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RACS ASC 2026
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Comparative analysis of surgical and anaesthetic complications in children under two years old
Verbal Presentation

Verbal Presentation

2:40 pm

03 May 2026

Bellevue Ballroom 2

Research Papers

Presentation Description

Institution: Royal children hospital, Royal Eye and Ear Victorian Hospital - Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Background: Complication rates in paediatric cochlear implant (CI) surgery have been reported between 4 to 26%. Previous studies, however, have not categorised all aspects of medical, surgical and anaesthetic management (e.g. infections, cochleae/nerve abnormality, gusher, explant) and very few studies have included large numbers of children implanted < 9 months. Objectives: Describe medical/surgical/anaesthetic management for children receiving CIs younger than two years of age in the last 10 years. Methods: From an existing database of 1352 children at a single CI centre, 196 children were identified who received CIs under 2 years (unilateral CI n=37 (18.88%), [n=5 single sided deafness (2.55%)], simultaneous-bilateral CIs n=105 (53.57%) and sequential-bilateral CIs n=54 (27.55%). Thus, 355 ears were derived for subsequent analysis with n=57 CI < 9 months. Detailed anaesthetic records were available for a subset of 91 children. Pre- and post-CI medical/surgical/anaesthetic management was coded from available surgical records and electronic medical files. Results: The mean age at first CI was 1.11 years (N=196; range 0.28 - 1.96 years; SD 0.38). Most CI surgeries were straightforward; 243 of 355 ears (68.45%). No anaesthetic events were reported for any of the 355 ear surgeries in the present cohort. The mean weight at surgery was 10.4kg (n=91; range 7-24 kg; SD 2.32) and mean duration of surgery was 3.13 hours (range 0.95 – 5.23hrs, SD 1.06). The mean American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) score was 1.5 (range 1-3; SD 0.61). Conclusion: CI surgery was straightforward in the majority of cases and there was no higher prevalence of management issues for children implanted < 9 months compared to CIs at 9 to 24 months. These data support the view that CI surgery can be performed safely in infants younger than 9 months.
Presenters
Authors
Authors

Dr Ha My Ngoc Nguyen - , Ms Shani Dettman - , Mr Richard Dowell - , Mr Jamie Leigh - , Dr Bing Teh -