Outcomes after Laser Stapedotomy with and without Preservation of the Stapedius Tendon

Abstract

Our go al was to investigate the postope rative diffe ren ces in hearing between patients who had had their stape dius tendon sa cr ificed and tho se whose stap edius tendon was preserv ed du ring las er stapes surgeryfo rotosclerosis. To that end, we perfonn ed a retrospecti ve review by ma iling exte nsive qu estionnaires to patients who had been operat ed on bet ween 1994 and 1997. We also perform ed routine and special audiom etr ic testin g to au gm eilt the subjective data. Seventy-nine of 124 questionnaires (64 %J were returned. Ofthe respo ndents, 75patients had undergo ne additional p re-and/o r po stop erati ve audiom etri c .testing, including tests to evaluate "h earing in nois e " and to determine the " uncoinfo rtable loudn ess level " (dynamic ran geJ. We fo und no stat istically sig nifi cant diffe rences between the two gro up s with respe et to their subj ective respo nse s and their audiolog ic test result s. The respottses to the qu esti onnaire indteated that in most cases, hearing was improv ed by stapes surgery. We cone lude that the stape dius tendon S /lO U Id be preser ved whenever possible du ring stapes surg ery , provid ed that it does not jeopardize the exposure or outco tne. Fro m the Ear Research Foun dati on, Sara sota, Fia.

Preservation of the stapedius tendon in laser stapes surgery

“…The stapedial reflex, speech discrimination in loud noise, noise tolerance level, and the patients' subjective outcomes questionnaires are being evaluated currently to defermine whether additional evidence justifying preservation of the stapedius tendon can be obtained. These results will be presented in the near future 16 …”

Middle ear microvascularization: an “in vivo” endoscopic anatomical study

“…In fact, it has been widely debated about a possible ST preservation during this procedure to prevent the devascularization and necrosis of the LPI. Although many authors have reported excellent objective and subjective results in patients who underwent to stapedectomy or stapedotomy with ST preservation, its usefulness is still controversial [13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. In addition, according to our findings, the BFD of the stapedial vessels seems to have an opposite direction to the LPI.…”

A comparative study of results of stapedotomy and neo-stapedotomy as a surgical treatment for otosclerosis

“…Moreover, application of the prosthesis was easier with stiff and intact ossicular chain (Silverstein et al). 23…”