Adding Porogens or Silicone Oil to Dexamethasone-Releasing Cochlear Implant Coatings: How Drug Delivery Rate Is Accelerated

Cochlear implant (CI), a surgically implanted hearing aid, compensates for damaged parts of the inner ear by electrical stimulation of the hearing nerves. Post-surgical inflammationsare the major risks associated with CI surgery [1]. Drug eluting CI coatings are a novel way firstly proposed by theauthors for topical Dexamethasone (DEX) delivery to the inner ear [2]. The major shortcoming associated with using these devices was the lengthy DEX release profile lasting overyears. To increase the release rate, shorten its time period but preserving the same dose of DEX released from the CIdevices, several modifications were examined including incorporation of a porogen or using silicone oil which will be reported here.