Different Positions of Facial Nerve in Relation to Cochlear Implant and Its Impact on Postoperative Facial Nerve Paralysis

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Otolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine for Boys, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.

https://doi.org/10.21608/aimj.2025.446475

Abstract

Background: A rate of 1–3% was reported for facial nerve (FN) paralysis as a complication of cochlear implant surgery. This complication may be prevented by understanding the anatomical relationship of the FN with a variety of adjacent landmarks in the surgical field. The aim of this work was to find out the impact of facial recess width on FN function after cochlear implantation.
Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study that carried on 200 patients who underwent cochlear implantation (CI) through a trans mastoid facial recess (FR) approach. Study subjects were compared according to FN paralysis occurrence in relation to age, gender and FR width.
Results: The relationship between FR width and age revealed a trend of increasing FR width with age. The relationship between FR width and gender showed a minimal variation between females and males. For all subjects, there is a very weak positive correlation between FR width and age. In the subgroup with FN paralysis, the relationship showed a slightly positive correlation. Similarly, in the subgroup without FN paralysis, the relationship remains very weak with a positive correlation. Females and males showed an almost negligible and positive correlation between FR width and age, suggesting no significant relationship.
Conclusions: There was a low incidence of FN paralysis, with generally favorable outcomes in terms of recovery time. While there was a trend of increasing FR width with age, this relationship was not statistically significant. FR width did not appear to be associated with the occurrence of FN paralysis.
 

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