Cochlear Implantation in Post-Meningitis Deafness: Audiological, Imaging, and Postoperative Outcomes: A Systematic Review With Qualitative Synthesis

Introduction Post-meningitis deafness (PMD) is a potentially devastating cause of hearing loss among pediatric and adult patients, for which hearing rehabilitation with cochlear implants (CIs) remains the standard of care. To date, there have been limited systematic studies on the impact of cochlear ossification (CO) and time-to-implantation (TTI) on audiological outcomes. Methods An online database search was performed on the PubMed, Embase, and Scopus databases for articles within the past 20 years pertaining to audiological outcomes among pediatric and adult patients with PMD. Information on study characteristics, patient demographics, clinical outcomes, and postoperative complications was collected and analyzed. Results From 8,325 articles generated in the original search, 11 were included in the final analysis, representing 376 patients in total. Of the articles discussing TTI, the majority (3 of 4) found that a shorter TTI of 6 months on average led to improved audiological outcomes compared with control groups with a longer TTI. Of the articles that discussed the impact of preoperative CO, the majority (4 of 6) found that the presence of CO had a detrimental effect on postoperative audiological outcomes after CI. Finally, of the articles that discussed long-term audiological outcomes for PMD compared with the non-PMD control group after CI, the majority (4 of 7) found that PMD patients had inferior long-term outcomes. Conclusion CI is a safe and effective treatment modality for PMD, with the majority of literature demonstrating improved long-term outcomes for patients without CO and a reduced TTI.