Introduction: Nowadays, the gentle insertion of the cochlear electrode has gained much importance, particularly when patients possess substantial residual hearing. For this purpose, we recently introduced the Forception Tool, which enables the intraoperative measurement of insertion forces. In an ongoing clinical trial, we want to assess the feasibility of intraoperative measurements with our tool during cochlear implantation.
Material and Methods: In this study, standard CI surgery is performed by senior surgeons using the Forception Tool instead of a forceps. It's worth noting that all patients had deafness based on their pure tone audiograms. To further assess the utility of the Forception Tool, each surgeon involved in the procedures evaluated the tool through a questionnaire following each implantation. At the time of abstract submission, three patients were included in the study.
Results: The implantation procedure were successful, with no reported intra- and postoperative complications. The insertion forces were successfully measured in all patients without interference during the insertion. The evaluation of the questionnaires indicated no significant differences in terms of handling between the tool-assisted insertions and conventional methods.
Discussion: The results show that the measurement of insertion forces has no impact on the electrode insertion. Our next step is to assess whether the adaption of real-time feedback can enhance the preservation of residual hearing during the implantation process. This could be essential in achieving favorable future implantation outcomes. The Forception Tool will aid surgeons in dynamically adjusting their strategy and thereby affecting the insertion forces to preserve residual hearing for a better auditory outcome.

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