Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of large single doses of radiation on the function of a cochlear implant. A cochlear implant (Nucleus® 24 k, Cochlear Ltd., Sydney, Australia) was implanted into a cadaver head and tested for functional changes following irradiation. Within 2 h, the device was given single fractions of 16.3 Gy, 6.2 Gy and 20 Gy with 6 MV photons. The size of the fractions was derived from maximum doses registered in linear accelerator-based radiosurgery of more than 300 patients treated for benign or malignant tumors at the Department of Radiation Therapy of the University Hospital of Freiburg. After each treatment an integrity test was performed testing the impedance and current output of the CI system. The total dose of 42.5 Gy caused no changes with regard to the tested parameters. The risk of implant failure seems to be low for Nucleus® 24 k cochlear implants exposed to large single doses of radiation as used in radiosurgery.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Sanghavi SN, Miranpuri SS, Chappell R, Buatti JM, Sneed PK, Suh JH, Regine WF, Weltman E, King VJ, Goetsch SJ, Breneman JC, Sperduto PW, Scott C, Mabanta S, Mehta MP (2001) Radiosurgery for patients with brain metastases: a multi-institutional analysis, stratified by the RTOG recursive partitioning analysis method. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 51:426–434
Kondziolka D, Levy EI, Niranjan A, Flickinger JC, Lunsford LD (1999) Long-term outcomes after meningioma radiosurgery: physician and patient perspectives. J Neurosurg 91:44–50
Flickinger JC, Kondziolka D, Niranjan A, Lunsford LD (2001) Results of acoustic neuroma radiosurgery: an analysis of 5 years experience using current methods. J Neurosurg 94:1–6
Pollock BE, Flickinger JC (2002) A proposed radiosurgery-based grading system for arteriovenous malformations. J Neurosurg 96:79–85
Maesawa S, Salame C, Flickinger JC, Pirris S, Kondziolka D, Lunsford LD (2001) Clinical outcomes after stereotactic radiosurgery for idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia. J Neurosurg 94:14–20
Leksell gamma knife treatment statistics. ttp://www.elekta.com/ContentInternational.nsf
Laszig R, Aschendorff A (1999) Cochlear implants and electrical brainstem stimulation in sensorineural hearing loss. Curr Opin Neurol 12:41–44
Baumann R, Lesinski-Schiedat A, Goldring JE, Gnadeberg D, Rittmann KL, Battmer RD, Karstens J, Lenarz T (1999) The influence of ionizing radiation on the CLARION 1.2 cochlear implant during radiation therapy. Am J Otol 20:50–52
Ralston A, Stevens G, Mahomudally E, Ibrahim I, Leckie E (1999) Cochlear implants: response to therapeutic irradiation. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 44:227–231
Last A (1998) Radiotherapy in patients with cardiac pacemakers. Br J Radiol 71:4–10
Tsekos A, Momm F, Brunner M, Guttenberger R (2000) The cardiac pacemaker patient—might the pacer be directly irradiated? Acta Oncol 39:881–883
Biggs NDW, Ramsden RT (2001) Cochlear implantation in a previously irradiated temporal bone—a case report. Cochlear Implants Int 2:129–134
Anteunis LJC, Wanders SL, Hendriks JJT, Langendijk JA, Manni JJ, deJong JMA (1994) A prospective longitudinal study on radiation-induced hearing loss. Am J Surg 168:408–411
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Klenzner, T., Lutterbach, J., Aschendorff, A. et al. The effect of large single radiation doses on cochlear implant function: implications for radiosurgery. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 261, 251–255 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-003-0670-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-003-0670-3