The operation was carried out by an international team of otosurgeons from Russia and Germany, under the guidance of Yuri Konstantinovich Yanov, director of the Saint-Petersburg Scientific Research Institute of the ENT Department of the Ministry of Health of Russia, and academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
So far this is only the second such experience in Russia, which is understandable: stem-brain implants are the most complicated in otosurgery. The last time, in December 2014, also in St. Petersburg, in the neurosurgical research institute named after A.L. Polenova, similarly operated two adults and a two-year-old girl from Krasnodar. In total, in the last three years, seven operations on the installation of auditory stem-implant implants have been carried out in our country.
28 сентября 2017
In St. Petersburg, doctors returned hearing to children with complete deafness
Unique surgical operations on hearing restoration with the help of MED-EL stem-implant implants were made to four more small patients on September 15-16 at the Raukhfus Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg.
Over the past 3 years in Russia, seven operations have been performed to install auditory stem-implant implants.
Four children (all younger than 5 years) who came in September for implantation from Vologda, Krasnoyarsk, Chelyabinsk and Dagestan, could never hear anything. Because of the bacterial meningitis suffered at an early age, the children had total ossification (ossification) of the cochlea, and one boy was born without snails.
If a child is born with hearing impairments or completely deaf, then such a method as cochlear implantation is currently the best solution. But ossification or lack of a snail is another matter. Here cochlear implantation is powerless. Therefore, modern medicine has proposed a new advanced approach - auditory brainstem implantation. Brain implants were developed by the same company as cochlear implants - MED-EL, the world's leading manufacturer of auditory implants. The first to establish their patients was Professor Robert Behr, one of the founders of the technology of stem-cell implantation, the director of the neurosurgical clinic of the University of Marburg (Fulda, Germany).
If a child is born with hearing impairments or completely deaf, then such a method as cochlear implantation is currently the best solution. But ossification or lack of a snail is another matter. Here cochlear implantation is powerless. Therefore, modern medicine has proposed a new advanced approach - auditory brainstem implantation. Brain implants were developed by the same company as cochlear implants - MED-EL, the world's leading manufacturer of auditory implants. The first to establish their patients was Professor Robert Behr, one of the founders of the technology of stem-cell implantation, the director of the neurosurgical clinic of the University of Marburg (Fulda, Germany).
Robert Behr came to St. Petersburg in December 2014, and in September 2017. The previous time he advised a team of neurosurgeons from the RNKhI named after A.L. Polenova and otosururgov from the Institute of Ear, Throat, Nose and Speech. Now he collaborated and exchanged experience with the same specialists from the Research Institute and with the doctors of the Children's Hospital named after K.A. Rauhfus.
After the last visit, the German professor was remembered by Ksenia Golovach from Krasnodar - the only child operated by the Research Institute named after A.L. Polenova three years ago. He asked his Russian colleagues to bring the girl for an examination in St. Petersburg. The results did not disappoint the world's leading surgeon in the field of stem-cell implantation: Ksenia Golovach is almost not behind in development from her peers today, she has a well-developed speech, the baby is engaged in creative sections.
As doctors explain, brainstem implantation allows to return the hearing to people who could not previously have been helped by anything and they did not have any chances. In Russia there are thousands. Among them, patients suffering from a rare disease - neurofibromatosis of the second type. This is a hereditary disease in which bilateral neurinomas of the auditory nerve develop, with the surgical removal of these tumors the auditory nerve is damaged and the person loses hearing. Irreversible damage to the auditory nerve often occurs as a result of craniocerebral trauma. And, of course, children who were born with anatomical abnormalities of hearing development, in which there is no snail or auditory nerve, and also with total ossification of the cochlea, need stem-cell implantation.
After the last visit, the German professor was remembered by Ksenia Golovach from Krasnodar - the only child operated by the Research Institute named after A.L. Polenova three years ago. He asked his Russian colleagues to bring the girl for an examination in St. Petersburg. The results did not disappoint the world's leading surgeon in the field of stem-cell implantation: Ksenia Golovach is almost not behind in development from her peers today, she has a well-developed speech, the baby is engaged in creative sections.
As doctors explain, brainstem implantation allows to return the hearing to people who could not previously have been helped by anything and they did not have any chances. In Russia there are thousands. Among them, patients suffering from a rare disease - neurofibromatosis of the second type. This is a hereditary disease in which bilateral neurinomas of the auditory nerve develop, with the surgical removal of these tumors the auditory nerve is damaged and the person loses hearing. Irreversible damage to the auditory nerve often occurs as a result of craniocerebral trauma. And, of course, children who were born with anatomical abnormalities of hearing development, in which there is no snail or auditory nerve, and also with total ossification of the cochlea, need stem-cell implantation.
However - experts emphasize - hearing restoration with the help of stem-brain implants is extremely difficult because surgeons have to deal directly with the patient's brain.
"The main difference between stem and cerebral implantation from cochlear implant is that the electrode of a special type is implanted not in the cochlea - it is either absent or not operable, but directly into the brain stem," says the head of the department for diagnosis and rehabilitation of hearing disorders. centers of auditory implantation HEARRING Vladislav Kuzovkov. - The main thing at the same time - to correctly install the electrode: so that he would catch a sound signal and transmit it to the brain. The process of finding the right place for the electrode is usually long and difficult, and the operation for hearing restoration can last from 3 to 10 hours.
Every new brainstem implantation for Russian doctors is a necessary and very important experience. The fact that the German professor shares his knowledge with colleagues is especially valuable - they are unique and tested in practice. Robert Behr, over the past twenty years, since the invention of auditory brainstem implants, has carried out with their help more than 100 operations to restore the hearing. And around 1000 similar implants were made in the world in the same time.
"The main difference between stem and cerebral implantation from cochlear implant is that the electrode of a special type is implanted not in the cochlea - it is either absent or not operable, but directly into the brain stem," says the head of the department for diagnosis and rehabilitation of hearing disorders. centers of auditory implantation HEARRING Vladislav Kuzovkov. - The main thing at the same time - to correctly install the electrode: so that he would catch a sound signal and transmit it to the brain. The process of finding the right place for the electrode is usually long and difficult, and the operation for hearing restoration can last from 3 to 10 hours.
Every new brainstem implantation for Russian doctors is a necessary and very important experience. The fact that the German professor shares his knowledge with colleagues is especially valuable - they are unique and tested in practice. Robert Behr, over the past twenty years, since the invention of auditory brainstem implants, has carried out with their help more than 100 operations to restore the hearing. And around 1000 similar implants were made in the world in the same time.
