Dr. Matthew Carlson

Matthew L. Carlson, M.D., is an ear surgeon who specializes in treating diseases of the middle ear, temporal bone and skull base. His primary research interests include clinical outcomes in cochlear implantation and acoustic neuroma tumors (vestibular schwannoma).

One area of particular interest is cochlear implantation surgery for patients with varying degrees of residual hearing. Traditionally, only patients with complete hearing loss in both ears were approved for cochlear implantation. Over the years, clinical outcomes with cochlear implantation have steadily improved, allowing more patients to benefit from this technology. As a result of ongoing clinical studies by Dr. Carlson and colleagues, additional indications such as hearing loss in only one ear and implantation in patients with less severe hearing loss will very likely become commonplace.

Dr. Carlson is also interested in quality of life outcome analysis for patients with vestibular schwannoma tumors. Treatment of these tumors is highly controversial. To date, most studies comparing treatment modalities including surgery, radiation and observation have compared measures such as hearing loss, facial nerve function and tumor control. In order to analyze outcomes beyond this narrow scope of data, Dr. Carlson uses quality-of-life measures to better understand patient-perceived outcomes in an effort to further refine treatment methods.