Cochlear Implants and BAHA Surgery at Columbia Asia Hospitals

NEW DELHI, October 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Loss of hearing may not be a life threatening condition but it can certainly affect the quality of life and hamper a child’s normal growth. Deafness identified early helps address the challenges involved in the normal development of the child, including speech, which usually gets affected. Columbia Asia Hospitals across India has been conducting Cochlear implants and BAHA (Bone Anchored Hearing Aid) very successfully. The hospitals aim at providing the highest level of diagnostic, surgical and rehabilitation services.

Three-year-old, Aditi (name changed) whose hearing and speech was severely impaired since birth now responds eagerly whenever her mother calls. The chirpy tot is now picking up sounds and bits of speech like any normal child of her age. This was made possible after a team of doctors from Columbia Asia Hospitals, led by Dr. Shomeshwar Singh, Consultant ENT & Cochlear Implant surgeon conducted a successful Cochlear Implant Surgery on Aditi's right ear.

In the surgery that lasted for over three hours, the doctors successfully managed to position the implant and the electrodes inside the inner ear. Explaining her pre-surgery complication, Dr. Shomeshwar said, "Aditi's hearing ability was very minimal in both ears, due to which she could not follow sounds. Consequent to this, her speech was not developing at all. Aditi was unable to function like other children with normal hearing and had to depend primarily on sign language."

Three weeks after the surgery, when the healing process was complete, the Cochlear implant was switched on. This gave the child a new lease of life and the opportunity for normalcy.

Cochlear Implant:

A cochlear implant is an electronic medical device that replaces the function of the damaged inner ear. Unlike hearing aids, which make sounds louder, cochlear implants do the work of damaged parts of the inner ear (cochlea) to send sound signals to the brain.

Cochlear implants can help patients with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss in both ears that cannot benefit adequately from the use of hearing aids. In children born with deafness, early implantation is preferred, so that they may experience speech sounds in time to begin learning language before the age of 2-3.

BAHA:

Bilateral Microtia is a medical condition in which the child is born with underdeveloped bilateral outer and middle ears. It is a very rare problem which can be seen in approximately one in 20,000 births. In this condition, in spite of a normal inner ear cochlea, the patient is stone deaf. It is a challenging problem as these patients require both reconstruction of the auricle and rehabilitation of hearing. BAHA is the only treatment for this rare condition that guarantees desired outcome. The other treatment modalities like reconstructive surgery have never given reliable outcomes.

Cochlear Implantation and BAHA surgeries are carried out in very few centers around the world by surgeons trained specifically in this field. Columbia Asia Hospitals is proud to be one among these elite centers offering the facility.

About Columbia Asia Hospitals Pvt. Ltd.

Columbia Asia Hospitals Pvt. Ltd. is one of the first healthcare companies to enter the country through 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) route.

About Columbia Asia Group of Companies

The Columbia Asia Group is owned by more than 150 private equity companies, fund management organizations and individual investors. The group currently operates six multi-specialty community hospitals, one referral hospital and one clinic in India. The company also operates hospitals in Malaysia (10), Vietnam (3), and Indonesia (1). The Indian management operations are managed from its office in Bangalore. http://www.columbiaasia.com/

Primary Media Contact: Kanchana Prasad, kanchana.prasad@columbiaasia.com, 91-80-40211000