Landmark cochlear surgery at LRHC

Shanika SRIYANANDA

A new page was turned in the country’s medical history yesterday morning with the successful performance of the first ever Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA) surgery on the five-year-old Kavishaka Dilshan Nikapitiya, who was born with deformity in both the ears at the Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital (LRHC).

The BAHA is a surgery where a metal device is implanted with conductive, outer or middle ear hearing loss, mixed outer, middle and inner ear hearing loss or single sided deafness. BAHA sends sound waves directly to the inner ear (Cochlear) through the skull bone, by-passing defects or blocks in the outer and middle ear. The landmark surgery was performed by Dr. D.K.S.N. Yasawardena, Consultant ENT Surgeon of the LRHC, under the guidance of Dr. Sunil Dutt, a surgeon from Cochlear Ltd.

Soon after the conclusion of the 90 minute procedure the medical team told the media that though the deafness in both ears were not very common in Sri Lanka, 10 to 15 children were reported to the LRCH.

“Under Cochlear BAHA sound processor captures sound via a microphone, sounds are converted into vibrations which are sent to the skull bone via a small titanium implant and then the skull bone provides a direct pathway for sound to travel to the cochlea through bone conduction, by-passing the outer and middle ear”, said Dr. Yasawardena.

J.M. Wickramaratne and Co, the local distributor for Cochlear Ltd, Australia has introduced this technology for the first time in Sri Lanka.