Revista de Otologia e Rinologia

Hearing Loss after Cardiac Surgery: A Scoping Review and Future Directions

Lyronis Grigorios, Kaprana Antigoni, Spiliopoulos Kyriakos, Charisi Evangeli, Alagianni Aggeliki, Hajioannou Jiannis, and Arnaoutoglou Eleni

Background: Sensorineural hearing loss is an emergency situation characterised by a 30 dB hearing loss over three continuous frequencies. Viral infections, inflammation, trauma, vascular compromise, intracochlear membrane rupture, immune diseases otological surgeries were the most known etiological factors. There are few reports of postoperative, sudden hearing loss by patients who underwent a heart surgery. Material and Methods: A literature search of medical databases such as PubMed, Medline and Embase was queried from their dates of inception to December 2020. A total amount of 216 publications were found with the use of the keywords below. The abstracts were screened and the inclusion criteria were studies where patients developed sensorineural hearing loss after cardiac surgery and studies by adult patients under 18 years old. Results: 18 publications were found where a total number of 13585 patients who underwent a cardiac surgery were enrolled in the current study. The included studies were original studies, case reports and literature review. Because of the heterogeneity of the studies a meta-analysis of the data was not possible. Conclusions: Although hearing loss after a cardiac surgery is a rarely reported event, it can significantly affect the quality of life of the patients raising the necessity of early detection and management. Further studies are necessary to produce evidence regarding the incidence and the aetiology of HL and to clarify the potential risk factors.