Controlled Clinical Trial on Bone-anchored Hearing Implants and a Surgical Technique With Soft Tissue Preservation.

Objective: To compare the clinical and audiological outcomes after linear incision with soft-tissue preservation and standard linear incision with soft-tissue reduction for placement of percutaneous bone-anchored hearing implants. Study Design: Clinical trial with historical control-group from a previous randomized controlled trial. Setting: Tertiary referral center. Patients and Interventions: Twenty-five patients were enrolled in a prospective cohort of bone-anchored hearing implant placement with linear incision and tissue preservation with a follow-up of 6 months. The control-group consisted of 25 patients from a previous randomized controlled trial in the same tertiary referral center. All sound processors were fitted 3 weeks after surgery. Main Outcome Measures: Numbness around the abutment, length of surgery, soft-tissue reactions according to Holgers' classification, Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale, implant loss, Implant Stability Quotient, and audiological outcome. Results: Tissue preservation resulted in better results on sensibility (mean percentage correct responses 98% [SD 4.4] versus 89% [SD 15.0], p = 0.003), on the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (mean observer score 15.3 [SD 4.3] versus 19.4 [SD 6.3], p = 0.006), and shorter total surgery time (mean 24.6 min [SD 6.2] versus 31.9 min [SD 6.5], p

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