Ten-year report on stapes surgery at the Academic Hospital Leiden, 1987-1996

Abstract

Introduction. The authors report hearing results in stapes surgery over a 10-year period at the Academic Hospital Leiden. Material and methods. Records of all 199 patients who underwent stapes surgery from 1987 through 1996 at the Academic Hospital Leiden were retrospectively analysed (212 operations). Results. A total of 190 stapedotomy and 22 stapedectomy operations were performed. No differences were found between the postoperative results of both techniques. The percentage of operated ears with a postoperative air-borne gap <10 dB, was calculated with four different methods for both operation techniques and varied between 86% and 47%. The percentage of operated ears with a postoperative air conduction level <30 dB, was calculated with two different methods for stapodotomy and stapedectomy and varied between 86% and 59%. For both parameters statistical significant differences were found in the outcome of the different calculation methods. Conclusion. The postoperative hearing results were comparable with results in the literature. There was no difference in hearing results between the surgical techniques. The outcome of different calculation methods of both parameters differed significantly. For better comparison of hearing results in stapes surgery there should be a consensus on calculation methods of the parameters.