[Surgery of otospongiosis in the elderly]

This paper only deals with patients suffering from otosclerosis, operated upon by stapes footplate piston procedure. We have been using this technique since 1963 and described it in 1966 stressing on the necessity of performing an accurately cut and circular footplate orifice, perfectly calibrated to the prosthesis diameter. The patients are considered as elderly if they are 70 or more, the oldest one was 84. Always performed under local anesthetic with a practically bloodless field, this surgery never induced any general complication. The patient gets up the day after surgery. Amongst 5,000 cases operated on by the same otologist between 1963 and 1987, 5.5% were 70 or more, 0.5% 80 or more. The immediate results are the same as in the younger patients for the majority frequencies and seems even better later on for the 4,000 Hz frequency. Also, the late bone conduction threshold in often much better than the preoperative one. So, we believe that all otosclerosis in the elderly can be operated on using our surgical procedure.