Abstract
OBJECTIVE: An aberrant internal carotid artery (ICA) in the middle ear is a rare congenital finding. We here report on the case of a successful cochlear implantation (CI) in a patient with an aberrant ICA in the middle ear.
CASE DESCRIPTION: The patient was a girl with hearing loss diagnosed by newborn screening. She had a history of truncusarteriosuscommunis (TAC) as a complex heart disease and repaired TAC at the age of 2months. Preoperative computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suggested cochlear nerve hypoplasia in the right ear. In the left ear, therewas no inner ear malformation norcochlear nerve hypoplasia. There was, however, an aberrant ICA running near the promontory and round window in the middle ear. CIin her left ear was performed at 31months. The aberrant ICA in the middle ear wasconfirmedby microscope observation. Theelectrode array was inserted without arterial injury. Intraoperative, acoustic reflex threshold (ART) and electrically evoked auditory brainstem responses (EABR) were satisfactory.
CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of a successful cochlear implantation in a patient with an aberrant ICA in the middle ear.
