India News | Army Soldier's 4-year-old Daughter Gets Cutting-edge Auditory Implant
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. A four-year-old daughter of a serving soldier has become the first child from the armed forces background to have received an auditory brain stem implant (ABI), a cutting-edge technology that will allow her to gain auditory awareness, officials said on Monday.
New Delhi, Jul 4 (PTI) A four-year-old daughter of a serving soldier has become the first child from the armed forces background to have received an auditory brain stem implant (ABI), a cutting-edge technology that will allow her to gain auditory awareness, officials said on Monday.
The challenging surgery took place at the Army Hospital (Research & Referral) in Delhi.
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"Army Hospital (R&R) Delhi became the first Govt Hospital in India to do Auditory Brainstem Implant (ABI) for 4 year old child of a serving soldier. A team effort by dedicated ENT surgeons, neurosurgeons, neuroanaesthetists & audiologists of AH(R&R) achieved this rare feat. @adgpi," Indian Army's Western Command tweeted.
It also shared pictures of the team that performed the surgery.
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A senior official said the girl "became the first child in armed forces or any government organisation to receive an auditory brain stem implant (ABI) for profound deafness".
"Most childhood deafness wherein the defect is in the cochlea is addressed with a cochlear implant. However, this child had no cochlea or the auditory nerves at birth, thus the only option to rehabilitate her was to surgically place an Auditory Brain Stem Implant (ABI) at seat of hearing within the brain," the official said.
The cutting-edge technology of auditory brain stem implantation is still at its nascent stages of being performed, all over the world, being very surgically challenging. The team of ENT surgeons, neurosurgeons, neuro-anaesthetists and audiologists "successfully completed this complex surgery spanning more than 12 hours," he added.
The switch on of device will be done six weeks post surgery. It will be followed by intense rehabilitation, officials said.
"With that the child will gain auditory awareness and hopefully develop speech. This will help the child in integration with mainstream schooling thereby becoming productive member of society in years to follow," he added.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)