New Strategy for Treating Partial Deafness: Surgical and Pharmacological Perspectives on Hearing Loss Treatment

This study from the Światowe Centrum Słuchu in Warsaw evaluated the impact of steroid treatment on hearing preservation in 147 adult patients undergoing cochlear implantation. Patients were divided into three groups based on the type of cochlear implant and further into subgroups based on steroid administration: intravenous dexamethasone, combined intravenous and oral steroids, and a control group without steroids. Hearing preservation (HP) was assessed using pure-tone audiometry before implantation, at processor activation, and 12 months post-activation. Results showed that steroid-treated groups had higher rates of partial or complete HP (62%) compared to the control group (33%). The study concluded that steroid pharmacotherapy, combined with the six-step Skarżyński surgical method and appropriate cochlear implant systems, effectively preserves residual hearing in patients undergoing cochlear implantation.