Surgical Findings and Results of Stapes Surgery for Stapedial Fixation in Adults

Kang, Ho Seob; Lee, Je Yeon; Yoo, Myung Hoon; Park, Hong Ju

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Stapes surgery has been reported to improve hearing for stapedial fixation. This study aimed to review the surgical findings and hearing results of stapes surgeries for 20 ears with stapedial fixation.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
We reviewed the medical records and video recordings of 20 consecutive stapes surgeries between 2011 and 2014. Patient age ranged from 20 to 64 years, representing 5 males and 12 females. Mean audiologic follow-up duration was 11 months. Hearing improvement at the final pure-tone audiometry was determined to be successful when air-bone gap (ABG) was reduced to 20 dB or less, and excellent when ABG was reduced to 10 dB or less. Surgery-related deterioration of bone-conduction (BC) was determined to be positive when the difference between final and preoperative BC was more than 15 dB, and over-closure positive when final air-conduction (AC) was better than preoperative BC.
RESULTS
Pre-operative threshold frequency for BC and AC were 39.8+/-15.8 and 66.4+/-15.3 dB HL, respectively, and ABG was 26.6+/-10.2 dB. After the stapes surgery, the thresholds for BC and AC were 36.8+/-16.3 and 42.0+/-16.2 dB HL, respectively, and ABG was 5.2+/-6.5 dB during the last follow-up. After surgery, BC threshold was significantly improved at 2 kHz, whereas AC threshold improved at all frequencies. Excellent hearing improvement was accomplished in 16 ears (80%) and successful improvement in all ears (100%). Over-closure was observed in 7 ears (35%). There were no patients with surgery-related sensorineural hearing loss.
CONCLUSION
Stapes surgery is effective for improving hearing for stapedial fixation. Operator should be able to cope with various situations during or after the stapes surgery.