Delhi Army hospital performs ‘first’ auditory brainstem implant surgery on 4-year-old girl

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The Army Hospital Research and Referral in Delhi has become the ‘first’ government facility in the country to perform an auditory brainstem implant (ABI) on a four-year-old patient, the daughter of a serving soldier.

ABI provides auditory rehabilitation to patients who are deaf and cannot have cochlear implant surgery due to abnormalities of the cochlea or cochlear nerve. Most patients with childhood deafness, wherein the defect is in the cochlea, are addressed with a cochlear implant. But this child was born without a cochlea or auditory nerves.

The Indian Army’s Western Command took to Twitter, calling the surgery a “rare feat”. It also noted that the surgery, which took over 12 hours, was led by the team of ENT surgeons, neurosurgeons, neuro anesthetists and audiologists at the Army hospital.

The ABI device that has been implanted in the girl will be turned on six weeks post surgery, followed by intense rehabilitation, noted a statement released by the Army. This will enable the child to gain auditory awareness and eventually develop speech.

It is to note that the Army Hospital Research and Referral in Delhi was also India’s first hospital to carry out a MitraClip heart surgery in February this year. It was performed by top military doctors on a junior commissioned officer who had developed a heart condition due to an infection. (The Print)