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Updated: Jun 5, 2026
Dissection of the Auditory Bulla in Postnatal Mice: Isolation of the Middle Ear Bones and Histological Analysis
Published on: January 4, 2017
Isolated malleus-handle fracture
Marion Blanchard1, Avraham Abergel, Benjamin Vérillaud
1Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Fondation Adolphe de Rothschild, Paris, France.
Objective:
Isolated malleus fracture is a rare ossicular injury with less than 80 cases published in the literature. The aim of this paper is to present a series of 3 patients with isolated malleus handle fracture, to review the literature and to discuss clinical presentation, imaging findings and treatment options.
Methods:
We retrospectively a case series of 3 patients with isolated malleus handle fracture managed at a tertiary referral otologic center.
Results:
The three patients related the same history of digitally manipulating the external auditory canal, leading to a sudden hearing loss and feeling of aural fullness. Meticulous otomicroscopy revealed the broken malleus with excessive movement of the distal part of the malleus on pneumatic otoscopy. High-resolution CT scan with multiplanar reconstruction along the axis of the malleus confirmed the fractures and displacements. One patient was treated conservatively and two underwent ossiculoplasty.
Conclusion:
Malleus handle fracture should be systematically suspected in case of hearing loss and aural fullness of sudden onset after digital manipulation of the external auditory canal.
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