Raipur. A 6-year-old girl with hearing impairment was operated upon at Raipur’s Ramkrishna Care Hospital using a new navigation technique (SmartNav), which has been used for the first time in this surgery in Central India. This device has been developed in Australia.
One in 10000 children globally is hearing impaired. Cochlear implant is a procedure to fit a device in the inner ear of a deaf child to restore his/her hearing ability. More than 20 cases have been performed last year at Ramakrishna Care Hospital for deaf children. All the patients are doing well. A 6-year-old girl was operated upon at Ramakrishna Care Hospital with the latest navigation technology (SmartNav) which has been used for the first time in Central India in this surgery. This device has been developed in Australia. This device enables the surgeon to monitor the correct placement and functioning of the implant during the operation in the OT room, hence 100% success in functionality.
Dr Surabhi emphasised the importance of detecting hearing loss in children during the neonatal period, as surgery can be performed as early as the first year of life. The surgery was performed by a team comprising Dr Surabhi Chopra Chaturmohta (Senior Consultant, Ramakrishna Care Hospital, Raipur), Dr Hetal Patel (HOD, Kem Hospital, Mumbai), Judy Andrews (from Melbourne, Australia), Dr Ruchira Raj (Speech and Language Pathologist) and Anuj Tandon.
