COCHLEAR IMPLANTATION IN A CASE OF WEGENERS GRANULOMATOSIS

Cochlear implantation is now a routine clinical procedure for deaf pat ients in many countries (Gibson, 1987). It replaces the function of da maged cochlear hair cells and, therefore, detects sound and by electri cal stimulation produces an appropriate signal in the remaining cochle ar nerve fibres (House and Berliner, 1991). Wegener's granulomatosis i s an uncommon auto-immune disease. It has a peak incidence at the fift h decade with slight male predominance. Nasal problems are the predomi nant presentation with otological manifestations presenting rarely. We report a case of Wegener's granulomatosis presenting with total heari ng loss and after right cochlear implantation a free held threshold of 40 dB and 20 per cent Bamford-Kowal-Bench (BKB) speech test. We concl ude that Wegener's granulomatosis is not an absolute contraindication for cochlear implantation.