Relationship between short-term and mid-term hearing outcomes after stapedotomy in patients with otosclerosis: an investigation

Abstract

Background

Although stapedotomy is effective for patients with clinical otosclerosis, the time of hearing stabilization has not yet been consistent.

Objective

To investigate the relationships between post-operative follow-up times, hearing outcomes, and threshold shift after stapedotomy.

Materials and methods

Fifty-five patients with clinical otosclerosis that underwent stapedotomy were retrospectively studied. Pure tone audiometry tests were conducted within the first month (short-term) and within 1 year (mid-term) postoperatively. Data were analyzed for two rounds of audiometry tests at different postoperative follow-up times.

Results

Air conduction (AC) and bone conduction (BC) were significantly correlated with preoperative hearing levels (p<.01). AC, BC, and air bone gap (ABG) significantly improved at the short-term (p<.001) and continued to improve at the mid-term (p<.01). The success rate of surgery increased from 87% at short-term to 98% at mid-term. Less than 1/3 of cases encountered BC deterioration at short-term, whereas most improved at mid-term.

Conclusions

Hearing results showed a trend of improvement between short-term and mid-term follow-ups after stapedotomy. AC, ABG, and success rate displayed significant improvement several months postoperatively. BC deterioration occurred in less than 30% of patients at short-term. The recovery of BC at 4 kHz was later than that of low frequencies.

Chinese abstract

背景：尽管镫骨切开术对临床耳硬化症患者有效, 但稳定听力的时间尚未一致。

目的：探讨镫骨切开术后的随访次数、听力结果与阈值改变之间的关系。

材料与方法：回顾性研究了55例行镫骨切开术的临床耳硬化症患者。术后第一个月（短期）和一年（中期）内进行纯音测听测试。在不同的术后随访时间对两轮听力测试进行数据分析。

结果：空气传导（AC）和骨传导（BC）与术前听力水平显著相关（p <.01）。短期内, AC、BC和气骨间隙（ABG）显著改善（p <.01）。手术成功率从短期的87％增加到中期的98％。不到1/3的病例在短期内出现BC恶化, 而大多数情况在中期得到改善。

结论：听力结果显示, 在镫骨切开术后短期和中期随访之间有改善的趋势。术后几个月, AC、ABG和成功率均显示出显著改善。短期内, 不到30％的患者出现BC恶化。 BC在4 kHz的恢复要晚于低频的恢复。

Keywords:

• Pure tone audiometry
• stapedotomy
• follow-up time
• threshold temporal shift

Disclosure statement

The authors of this manuscript declare no relationship with any company whose products or services may be related to the subject matter of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [Nos. 81700925 and 82071048] and Excellent Doctor-Excellent Clinical Researcher Project of Eye and ENT Hospital Fudan University [SYB202005].