Muscat: In collaboration with Al Nahda Hospital's Cochlear Implant Programme and Anesthesia Department, a specialized medical team from the hospital's Otorhinolaryngology (ENT surgery) Department successfully performed a unique, complex cochlear implant surgery on the world's youngest infant--a 9-week-old boy with cerebral meningitis. The operation lasted approximately two hours.
Dr. Yousef Ali Al Saidi, ENT consultant surgeon at Al Nahda Hospital (Head of the medical team), told Oman News Agency (ONA) that the cochlear implant operation attempts to improve hearing abilities in people with substantial hearing loss by stimulating the auditory nerve.
Al Saidi stated that such a surgery presents a medical difficulty, particularly when performed on very young children, due to the sensitivity and intricacy of the inner ear at this age. Previously, the youngest child to have this treatment was a 10-week-old baby in the United States, he explained.
