Find in Library

Introduction:To evaluate the audiological variables and to investigate the factors affecting hearing improvement in patients who underwent stapedotomy with the diagnosis of otosclerosis.Methods:The data of 114 patients who had middle ear exploration were retrospectively reviewed. Air conduction thresholds between 250-6000 Hz and bone conduction thresholds between 500-4000 Hz were examined in pure tone audiometry. Postoperative air-bone gap (ABG), change in ABG, and change in bone conduction threshold at high frequency were primarily examined. The results of different piston diameters were compared.Results:Eighty-three patients with stapedial footplate fixation were included in the study. While post-operative air conduction thresholds decreased significantly at all frequencies, bone conduction thresholds decreased significantly only at 2000 Hz (p=0.001). The most notable gain in ABG was obtained at 500 Hz. The post-operative air conduction pure tone average was significantly higher in patients with 0.6 mm diameter prosthesis. Postoperative mean ABG and ABG values at 2000 and 4000 Hz were found to be significantly lower in patients with 0.8 mm diameter prosthesis (p<0.05). The change in ABG at 2000 Hz was significantly lower in patients with 0.6 mm diameter prosthesis (p=0.029). The mean change in bone conduction thresholds at high frequencies was positive in 58 patients (70%) and negative in 25 patients (30%). There was no difference between different piston diameters regarding bone thresholds at high frequencies.Conclusion:Improvement was achieved at all frequencies in air conduction thresholds following stapedotomy. In our study, it was found that the lower the pre-operative bone conduction thresholds were, the more the improvement in ABG. A significant advantage was achieved at 2000 and 4000 Hz frequencies in patients with 0.8 mm piston diameter compared to 0.6 mm piston diameter.