Introduction Majority of petrous bone and lateral skull base pathologies are benign in nature. The complex anatomy usually warrants an extensive approach with associated morbidity. Case summary Two cases of petrous bone cholesteatoma (1 congenital cholesteatoma with facial palsy and 1 acquired cholesteatoma) and a case of glomus tympanicum were treated with exclusive endoscopic transcanal approach. The cases of petrous cholesteatoma were addressed with trans-promontorial and infra-cochlear approaches. The mean operative time was approximately 140 min. No CSF otorrhoea was noticed in the post-operative period. The average period of hospital stay was 3.7 days. Conclusion In the subset of cases with limited benign disease an endoscopic trans-canal approach is a better alternative to an external approach. It decreases operative time, blood loss, chance of meningitis, morbidity and hospital stay. The lack of depth perception is a major hurdle which can be come over by experience in endoscopic middle ear surgery. This approach can create direct access to cochlea/petrous apex/internal auditory canal (IAC)/Supra-geniculate ganglion region.

Head and neck paraganglioma is a rare disease to encounter in clinical practice and involvement of the base of the tongue in the oropharynx is yet to be described in the current literature. Although various surgical approaches have been described in the literature, transcervical mandibular swing is an effective technique for adequate exposure and complete excision of the oropharyngeal paraganglioma with adequate control on bleeding especially when it is assisted by coblation.

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Objective To report the use of a 3 mm rigid nasal endoscope in primary endoscopic stapedotomy and clinical and audiological outcomes. Materials and methods Thirty patients diagnosed with primary otosclerosis underwent endoscopic stapedotomy that was performed using a 3 mm nasal endoscope (Karl Storz). At 6 months follow-up, the patients were evaluated for intraoperative findings, postoperative hearing outcomes and complications. Results Canaloplasty was performed in 2 (6.66%) patients, and no curettage of the canal wall was required in 12 (40%) patients. Transposition of the chorda tympani nerve was conducted in 11 (36.66%) patients. The average duration of surgery was 36 min (range 31–65 min). The air-bone gap (ABG) was 35 dB (range 24–50 dB) preoperatively and 14.63 dB (range 9–20 dB) postoperatively (p = 0.00). At 6 months follow-up, <20 dB ABG was achieved in 93.33% of the patients. No major intraoperative/postoperative complications were detected. Conclusion A 3 mm rigid nasal endoscope can be effectively used in stapedotomy to obtain adequate audiological outcomes. It can be considered as a better alternative to the standard microscope or 4 mm endoscope in preserving the posterior canal wall and chorda tympani nerve while minimizing operative time without causing significant complications.

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