Surgical complications of multichannel cochlear implants in North America.

By paying careful attention to the details of surgical technique, many of the complications which have occurred to date may be avoided. Some, such as late electrode and receiver/stimulator migration, device failures, and late flap necrosis due to excessive magnetic forces cannot be avoided by the surgeon, but may be prevented by further advances in implant designs. Although the incidence of life-threatening complications is minimal, and that of major complications is acceptable, every effort should be made by the surgeon, audiologist and manufacturer to further diminish these problems.