Introduction: The Cochlear Implant (CI) surgery is not entirely (completely) free of risks and may present problems that will require revision surgeries.

Objective: To verify the efficacy, risks, and indications to revision the CI surgery and to identify the clinical, audiological, and device-related characteristics that predict outcome.

Method: A retrospective study of patients under 18 years undergoing to CI from 2004 to 2015, in a Brazilian public hospital. Data collected to age at the time of implantation, sex, etiology of deafness, duration of hearing loss, audiological and oral language characteristics of each patient in the pre and postoperative CI, if there was a need for surgical revision and its reasons.

Results: Two hundred and sixty surgeries were performed in 236 patients. Seven patients with bilateral CI and 10 required surgery revision. Twenty-seven surgeries were necessary for these 10 children (1 performed bilateral CI), 16 of which were revision surgeries. In 2 children, removal of the CI was necessary, without reimplantation (one with cochlear malformation, probably incomplete type I partition and another due to trauma). Regarding the etiology of the 8 children who remained with CI, 4 had cochlear calcification after meningitis followed by trauma (1), malformation of the facial nerve (1), failure of the CI internal device (1) and a revision surgery was necessary to a child due to twisting (Splice) of the electrode bundle.

Conclusion: The revision of the CI surgery is not frequent, and the patient must be informed of this possibility.