Wide Diameter Bone Anchored Implant Study

Bone-anchored hearing systems have been an amplification choice for conductive, mixed, and profound, unilateral, sensorineural hearing loss for over three decades. So far, about 75,000 patients worldwide have received this surgical intervention (bone-anchored hearing system), since its first successful implantation in 1977. In 2009, Oticon Medical, LLC launched its bone-anchored hearing system called Ponto. In just over two years, the Ponto has been successfully implanted in over 3,000 patients by leading otolaryngologists and neurotologists in 18 countries worldwide. The Ponto implant has previously been available with a 3.75mm diameter and comes in two lengths: 3mm and 4mm. Anew Ponto implant that is 4.5mm wide in diameter is now available in both 3mm and 4mm lengths. This Wide Diameter implant is designed to maximize bone-to-implant contact area and enhance implant stability which can potentially allow loading of the sound processor as early as 3 weeks after surgery. The abutment screw incorporates external threads at the screw head to make it possible to connect a SmartPeg (Osstell, Goteborg, Sweden) for stability measurements. All Ponto implants have the same universal implant-abutment interface. Therefore, they are fully compatible with existing instruments and abutments. Two new countersinks have been developed for the new Ponto Wide Diameter implant. The drill size of the countersink is 3.80mm. It is marked with a "W" to separate them from existing drills. All products are CE-marked and cleared for the US market by the FDA. Objectives The present study will attempt to show that the Ponto 4.5mm Wide Diameter implant has similar or better outcomes in terms of Quality of Life (QoL) benefit; implant extrusion and revision surgery when compared to the 3.75mm diameter implant. Secondary objectives to be studied will include adverse skin reactions, the feasibility of fitting the sound processor three weeks after surgical implantation, and investigation to see if the type of skin reactions observed following implantation could be related to the demographic data of subjects or the type of surgical technique used. Study Design This study is a prospective, multicenter study of subjects' demographic and implant data. Subjects will be enrolled at two US sites. Subject Population Twenty adult subjects 18 years or older will be included in the study from each participating partner site.