Importance of adhesiolysis in revision surgery for vibrant soundbridge device failures at the short incus process

The objectives of the study were to report a vibrant soundbridge (VSB) implant revision surgical method involving adhesiolysis at the short incus process under local anesthesia and demonstrate successful hearing performance after surgery. Three cases of VSB surgery, performed in 2016, were enrolled. All cases had diagnoses of device failure. This ‘seven-incision line’ exposed the floating mass transducer directly, after which the three steps (adhesiolysis, curettage, and hydrocortisone injection) were performed. Upon fitting the VSB, sound fields were evaluated immediately and at 3 months after the revision. During the revisions of surgery, all patients achieved immediate hearing gains and noticed differences in the outer devices with different amplifications. Satisfactory improvements in hearing thresholds and speech recognition abilities were confirmed by improvements of 20–30 dB in hearing loss 3 months after revision surgery. The VSB implant revision surgical method involving adhesiolysis is safe and efficient for patients who experience a VSB device failure. This method will reduce the requirement for surgery under general anesthesia, reduce the overall period of clinical therapy and, therefore, minimize patients’ medical costs.