Incus in Normal Ears and in Chronic Otitis Media

Abstract

100 incudes were examined by scanning electron microsopy. These consisted of 25 normal cadaver incudes and 75 incudes removed during operation for chronic otitis media. In all cases the normal incudes showed depressions in the surface. Incudes removed because of chronic infection had all their long process destroyed and all stages of erosions were present also in the short process and in the corpus. Mucosa and submucosa were pathological in most cases of incudes from chronic infected ears. As auto- or homotransplants in tympanoplasty incudes should probably be denaturated before use.