J. Xu et al., PEDIATRIC COCHLEAR IMPLANTATION - RADIOLOGIC OBSERVATIONS OF SKULL GROWTH, Archives of otolaryngology, head & neck surgery, 119(5), 1993, pp. 525-534
We investigated the effects of long-term implantation of auditory pros
theses on skull growth in young animals. Four monkeys were implanted w
ith dummy cochlear implants at 6 months of age. To simulate implantati
on in children, the bed for the receiver-stimulator or interconnecting
plug was drilled across a calvarial suture down to the underlying dur
a. Plain skull roentgenograms Were periodically taken to monitor head
growth for up to 3 years after implantation. These longitudinal measur
ements revealed no significant asymmetric skull growth. Postmortem mea
surements using computed tomographic scans confirmed these results and
showed no significant difference in the intracranial volumes between
the implanted and control sides of each animal or between experimental
and nonimplanted control monkeys. These results suggest that long-ter
m cochlear implantation in very young children will not cause any sign
ificant deformity of the skull.