Hearing-impaired teen is 1st North American to undergo groundbreaking surgery

A Montreal teenager born without the ability to hear from one ear recently became the first patient in North America to under groundbreaking surgery to implant a bone-anchored hearing aid.

Montreal Children's Hospital surgeon performs minimally invasive surgery, recently approved by Health Canada

CBC News Posted: Nov 21, 2015 2:54 PM EST | Last Updated: November 22, 2015

"It was like a loud vibration ... it didn't hurt"

9 years ago

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Karina Theoret describes what it was like to be awake while surgeons used a groundbreaking technique to implant bone-anchored hearing aids.

A Montreal teenager born without the ability to hear from oneearrecently became the first patient in North America to have groundbreaking surgery toimplantabone-anchored hearing aid.

I felt it a little bit, but it didn't hurt at all- Karina Theoret

In a few weeks, doctors will finish the procedure on KarinaTheoret. They'llattach a small external microphone that will conduct vibrations through the implant throughTheoret'sskull so her working left ear can process it.

The 15-year-old's hearing problemdoesn't affect her speech, but shesays she sometimes has difficultyhearingfriends orclassroom conversation.

"In conversations, I would have to place myself where I could hear everybody," she says.

Initially, she hadanticipated that it would take months to recover fromsurgery to implant thebone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA).

Karina Theoret, 15, was awake for the whole surgery. The Montrealer says her surgeon warned her the vibrations would feel like an electric toothbrush against her head. (CBC)

But surgeonsat the Montreal Children's Hospital proposed anew procedure, just approved by Health Canada, that would shorten her recovery time to a matter of weeks.

Bone-anchored hearing aids aren't new,but the technique used for Theoret's surgeryhas only just been approved and ismuch less invasive, according to her surgeon.

Theoretunderwent the surgery Wednesday, andwas wide awake because itonly requireda local anesthetic.

"It was just like a loud vibration. I heard it. I felt it a little bit, but it didn't hurt at all," she says.

Surgeon Sam Daniel punctured a tiny hole smaller than five millimetres in width to drill a screw into into his patient's skull during the surgery at Montreal Children's Hospital. The hole was so small, it didn't require stitches. (CBC)

Her surgeon punctured a tiny hole smaller than five millimetres in width to drill a screw into Theoret's skull.

The hole was so small,it didn't require stitches.

Pediatric ear, nose andthroat surgeonDr. Sam Danielsays the surgery took less than 10minutes, compared to other similar surgeries that have been undertaken and havetaken several hours.

"She lost two drops of blood," he says.