ENT surgeons at NRI Hospital gave a new lease of life to a pair of siblings suffering from congenital hearing and speech disorder.
A team of ENT surgeons led by R. Vidyasagar performed cochlear implantation and restored the speech and hearing functions of Harshini (4) and Ranjith (6) at the NRI Hospital, Chinakakani.
Dr. Vidyasagar, a senior ENT surgeon and who had done a fellowship in Pediatric ENT in Wayne State University, Detriot, USA, said that cochlear implant was a device that receives sound from external environment and it converts the sound into electromagnetic signals. The signals are transmitted to an internal device which is implanted by surgery.
Since the cost of cochlear implants was prohibitively high, Hospital Superintendent Butchibabu and Dr.Vidyasagar got in touch with US-based entrepreneur Vinay, who along with his team had helped to fund for this cochlear implantation.
“We drilled the bone behind the ear carefully and inserted the internal component electrode. The hearing improvement was confirmed by Neural Response Telemetry for both the children. On 21st day, this machine will be switched on and the children will hear sounds,” said Dr. Vidyasagar.
The operative team included Dr.Vidyasagar, K.Blandeena, G.Lakshman Prasad and anaesthesiologist Obed John Prakash.
“We feel that cochlear implantation should be included in Aarogyasri scheme and it would benefit a lot of people,” Dr. Vidyasagar added.
