Endoscopic transcanal stapedotomy: Our experiences at a tertiary care teaching hospital of Eastern India

Abstract

Introduction: Although operating microscope is used worldwide for stapes surgery, the use of endoscopes would provide much benefit such as good panoramic view of middle ear and easy accessibility of the oval window area, stapes, and facial nerve. Objective: We aimed to analyze our experiences of endoscopic transcanal stapedotomy performed at a tertiary care teaching hospital of Eastern India. Materials and Methods: This prospective study was done at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology between March 2017 and April 2019. The patients were diagnosed as having otosclerosis with fulfilling the selection criteria. All underwent endoscopic transcanal stapedotomy. Results: Out of 52 patients those underwent endoscopic transcanal stapedotomy, there were 28 females and 24 males. The mean age was 32.40 years. The mean operation time was 35.43 min. The mean preoperative air–bone gap (ABG) was 34.84 dB, whereas the mean postoperative ABG was 9.81 dB. Tympanomeatal flap tear was seen in one case. One case showed chorda tympani injury and two patients presented with vertigo after surgery. No other complications were seen after endoscopic stapedotomy. Conclusion: The important advantages of endoscopic stapedotomy are good-quality visualization with identification of vital parts of the middle ear cleft, minimal handling to the chorda tympani nerve with almost no curettage of the scutum. The development of endoscopic ear surgery techniques promises the change the way we approach for stapes surgery. The wide field view of endoscope helps the surgeon to visualize better the middle ear recess, especially oval window niche and stapes.