Universitätsbibliothek

Objectives: The aim of this work is to define critical warning brainstem auditory evoked potential (BAEP) signs as a marker for the postoperative hearing outcome. Study design: Retrospective study Setting: Tertiary referral center Patients: 162 patients who underwent resection of acoustic neuroma via a transtemporal approach with intraoperative monitoring (IOM) at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Plastic, Esthetic and Reconstructive Head and Neck Surgery, from January 2011 to December 2017. Interventions: BAEP was performed in all patients; while intraoperative direct recording of the cochlear nerve function was done in 131 patients. Main Outcome Measure: postoperative hearing thresholds (Pure tone audiometry). Results: The most significant risk factor is the permanent loss of wave V as it increases the risk of postoperative hearing loss by 18 times; followed by three-steps increment of the stimulus intensity as it increases the risk by 5.75 times; and finally the response thresholds obtained during the intraoperative direct recording of cochlear nerve function. Each unite increment of the threshold increases the risk of postoperative hearing loss by 6.7%. Conclusions: We believe that the intraoperative BAEP critical signs during IOM detected in this study can be used as a helpful tool to predict postoperative hearing loss in patients with acoustic neuroma.