Stapedectomy in residency--the UAB experience

A retrospective study of the resident-performed stapedectomies at the University of Alabama-Birmingham over the last 10 years was done. "Satisfactory" results, depending on the audiologic criteria used, were obtained in 60-64 percent of cases, far below the 90-95% success rate of established otologic surgeons. The reason for the low success rate is extremely limited experience, an average of 0.78 cases per residency at this institution. Other training programs have reported slightly higher success rates, all in the 60-80 percent range, but each had a higher average number of stapedectomies per resident. Some comments and suggestions are offered on the continuing controversy of stapedectomy in residency.