Soldier's daughter, suffering from childhood deafness, gets rare brain implant at Army hospital

The switch-on of the Auditory Brain Stem Implant will be performed 6 weeks post-surgery, followed by intense rehabilitation. The doctors believe that the child will gain auditory awareness and develop speech. 

<I>Image: A team of dedicated ENT surgeons, neurosurgeons, neuroanaesthetists and audiologists of AH (R&R) carries out the rare procedure. Photograph: Western Command</I>

In a major breakthrough, the Army Hospital Research and Referral has successfully carried out an Auditory Brain Stem Implant for profound deafness, becoming the first government facility to perform this rare feat. 

The recipient was a four-year-old daughter of a serving soldier in the Indian Army. 

In most cases of childhood deafness, the defect used to be found in the Cochlea, which is usually addressed with a Cochlear Implant. 

But in this case, the child had no Cochlea or auditory nerves at birth so the doctors were left with the only option to rehabilitate her by surgically placing an ABI at the seat of hearing within the brain.

"The cutting edge technology of Auditory Brain Stem implantation is still at its nascent stages of being performed all over the world being very surgically challenging," an official said.

The team of ENT surgeons, Neurosurgeons, Neuroanaesthetists and audiologists successfully completed this complex surgery spanning more than 12 hours.

<I>Image: Army Hospital (R&R) in Delhi became the first government hospital in India to do Auditory Brainstem Implant for 4-year-old child of a serving soldier. Photograph: Western Command</I>

Now, the switch-on of the device will be performed 6 weeks post-surgery, followed by intense rehabilitation. The doctors believe that the child will gain auditory awareness and develop speech. 

"This will help the child in integration with mainstream schooling thereby becoming a productive member of society in years to follow," he said.