Intraoperative control


During the operation and mainly at the rear tympanotomy, important help to the surgeon gives the monitoring of the function of the facial nerve, so that the success of operation is ensured in cases with alterations of surgical anatomic driver-points and in its probable deviating course.
Following the placement of the electrodes in the cochlea an electopsyshiologic check of the implant is done, that is separated in technical and biological check:
-The technical tests by which we check the appliance of the C.I. (hardware) is telemetry, the measurement of resistance of the electrodes and the recording in real time of the Electrode Voltages (EV), or more specifically the Average Electrode Voltages (AEV).
-The biological tests by which we check the function of the hearing path are the electrically elicited stapedious reflexes (ESR), the method of recording the Electrical Auditory Brainstem Response (EABR) and the Electrically Evoked Compound Action Potentials (ECAP) that use the program N.R.T. (Neural Response Telemetry).

Thus when the patient comes out from the operation room we know that the Cochlear Implant functions correctly, that the patient “hears” and we acquire precious information on the threshold of E.A.B.R. and NRT that will help us later on with the mapping and the adjustment of the cochlear implant, mainly in children.