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. 2025 Aug 8.
doi: 10.1007/s00405-025-09610-7. Online ahead of print.

Clinical and surgical safety in patients transitioning from percutaneous to transcutaneous active bone conduction implants

Leonardo Elías Ordóñez Ordóñez  1   2   3   4 , Gabriela Elizabeth Corredor García  5   6 , Jorge Medina-Parra  7   6 , Esther Sofía Angulo Martínez  6 , Silvia Carolina Vanegas  5   7 , Estefany Catherine Hernández  5   7 , Maja Magdalena Olsson  8 , Sindi Amaya  9
Affiliations

Clinical and surgical safety in patients transitioning from percutaneous to transcutaneous active bone conduction implants

Leonardo Elías Ordóñez Ordóñez et al. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. .

Abstract

Purpose: The primary aim of this study was to assess clinical and surgical safety for patients who underwent transition surgery from a percutaneous to an active transcutaneous bone conduction implant. A secondary aim was to report audiological changes and outcomes for quality of life post the transition surgery.

Methods: An observational, descriptive and prospective study was performed in a tertiary referral center. Patients who underwent transition surgery as part of their treatment were included. Clinical and surgical safety were assessed through intraoperative and postoperative complications and adverse events. The audiological outcomes were assessed with the Hearing in Noise Test, both fixed noise and adaptative noise measurements. Quality of life changes were evaluated using the Glasgow Benefit Inventory, postoperatively.

Results: The study of 23 cases (18 patients) found minor complications in 5.3% (6/113 follow-up points) and no major complications. Audiometric results showed no significant differences in speech understanding (fixed noise=-0.011%, p = 0.99; adaptive noise = 0.236dB, p = 0.617). Quality of life scores increased moderately (+ 27.0 ± 33.9), with notable gains in general health (+ 29.9) and social support (+ 31.8), and a modest improvement in physical well-being (+ 10.6).

Conclusions: The study showed that transitioning from a passive percutaneous to an active transcutaneous bone conduction implant is safe, with no major adverse events and only a few minor complications. The audiological outcomes with transcutaneous implants were maintained with respect to percutaneous implants, while quality of life improvements were notable in general health and social support. Clinicians should use these insights to guide patient discussions and tailor post-operative care.

Keywords: Audiological findings; Bone anchored hearing aids; Conductive hearing loss; Follow-up study; Mixed hearing loss; Quality of life; Surgical outcomes.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval: Ethical approval was granted by the Institutional Ethics and Research Committee (CEIFUS 691 − 20, act No. 019–20). This study complies with the ethical standards established by the Declaration of Helsinki and the resolution 8430 of 1993 of Colombia for studies in human beings. Conflicts of interest: LEOO has consultant agreements and research projects with Advanced Bionics, LLC and Cochlear Corporation. MMO is currently employed by Cochlear Limited, a company that manufactures and supplies bone conduction hearing devices. The remaining authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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