Inflammation at the Tissue-Electrode Interface in a Case of Rapid Deterioration in Hearing Performance Leading to Explant After Cochlear Implantation.

Objective: The reasons for soft failure after cochlear implantation require investigation. This study proposes a method to study and characterize the tissue response to the array in a case of soft failure in a person undergoing reimplantation.

Case: The woman in her 50s, with an underlying autoimmune condition, received a cochlear implant using hearing preservation technique after developing profound hearing loss more than 2 kHz with a moderate loss of less than 500 Hz over a 10-year period. The case was identified as a soft failure due to deteriorating performance, discomfort, and migration over the 10 months after implantation. Impedance telemetry, speech perception measures, and audiometric thresholds are described. At explantation there was evidence of fibrosis.

Interventions: To use histology and immunohistochemistry to determine the cellular response of the tissue associated with the electrode array at time of explantation.

Main Outcome Measures: Identification of the cell types, regional variations, and inflammatory marker expression in the fibrotic tissue associated with the array.

Results: Neutrophils and eosinophils were identified, along with a variable pattern of collagen deposition. CD68 and CD163-positive macrophages and T cells were variably distributed through the tissue and interleukin-1 beta and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 expression was identified.

Conclusions: The expression profile is evidence of active inflammation in the tissue despite the time since implantation. This study is the first to characterize the tissue response to the array in a person undergoing reimplantation, and who can be followed to determine the individual response to arrays. It establishes that the investigation of explanted devices after soft-failure is feasible.