#AHT: Successful operation at AHT – 19-year-old boy’s hearing was restored!

This operation was performed at “American Hospital Tbilisi” – AHT. According to Dr.Archil Tsuladze, the head of the Otorhinolaryngology Department of the hospital, after the operation, the young boy’s hearing was fully restored. For the last ten years, he had heard almost nothing – and lived with an 80-decibel impairment. The operation was successful, 19-year-old is now undergoing a rehabilitation course.

Dr. Archil Tsuladze explains that there is neurosensory and conductive hearing loss. In conductive hearing loss, the nerve is fine, but the sound cannot reach the nerve, i.e. the problem is “on the way”. The young patient, who lives in Batumi, had the second type of disorder – a sharp decrease in the conductive type of bilateral hearing.

“About 10 years ago, family members noticed that he had severe hearing loss. The problem appeared at the age of 7-8: first speech, and then mental development was delayed. Unfortunately, family never tried to use a hearing aid, which in his case would be the best alternative. In general, before the doctor decides on surgical intervention, in such a case, in order to improve hearing, it is preferable to use hearing aids that amplify the sound”, Dr. Archil Tsuladze tells us.

The new life of a young boy started with a normal appointment to American Hospital Tbilisi because he had ear inflammation – otitis, his parents brought him for a consultation with an otorhinolaryngologist.

“During the consultation, we saw that first of all, we had to solve an acute problem, because he had ear inflammation – otitis. We performed the treatment, after which we examined the hearing, at which time we determined that the hearing loss in the right ear was 80 decibels, and in the left ear – 60 decibels. Of course, we decided to do the surgery on the right ear first. This is because the surgery is usually done on the ear with worse hearing. The reason is simple – in surgery, there are no guarantees that everything will go well, and in case of complications, the better ear must be preserved. Therefore, surgery is never performed on both ears at the same time,” Archil Tsuladze notes.

In addition to pre-existing chronic problems, the young man had damage to his eardrum and auditory bones. During the operation, a very rare, but at the same time, noteworthy and special case was identified:

“It was tympanosclerosis, i.e. ossification of the structures, which leads to the fixation of the auditory bones. In turn, this results in a disruption in the auditory pathway. During the operation, we completely freed the middle ear from the tympanoscleral plaques and actually passed through the fur bridge – there was a great risk that we lost fluid and the patient became completely deaf. However, the operation was successful, without any complications, the auditory bones were moved and the eardrum was restored. Two weeks later, when we removed the tampon from the operated ear, we got such a result – the sharp hearing loss was almost completely restored. Because of this, he himself was surprised, and his face made us realize that a completely new stage has begun in the life of this young man.”

Today, the patient is undergoing rehabilitation and feels very well.