Short- and long-term results of stapedectomy in children

Otosclerosis in children and teenagers is very uncommon. Typical otosclerosis presents as a slowly progressive conductive hearing loss and tinnitus in the third to fourth decade of life. Stapedectomy is a well-established procedure for correction of conductive hearing loss in adult patients with otosclerosis. The aim of this work is to assess short- (6 months) and long-term (7 years) results after stapedectomy performed in 10 patients under 20 years of age. In 1 patient cochlear otosclerosis was diagnosed and in 1 patient incus anomaly was found during the operation. Pure tone audiograms obtained 6 months after stapedectomy showed air-bone gap closure to 10 dB in 6 patients, to 15 dB in 8 patients and in all patients to 20 dB. Average air conduction threshold improved by 26.5 dB and average bone conduction threshold by 5.9 dB. 7 years after stapedectomy air-bone gap was similar to the one measured 6 months postoperatively. Stapedectomy in children provides good and stable hearing results.