Stapes surgery in Sweden: evaluation of a national-based register

The aim of the National Quality Registries is to monitor the outcome of healthcare given to patients. The Swedish Quality register for otosclerosis surgery is one of the nine official national registers for ear, nose and throat diseases in Sweden. Since 2004, surgical and audiological results and patient satisfaction scores have been systematically collected from a majority of the ear, nose and throat clinics performing stapes surgery in Sweden. The results of 1688 patients who underwent primary operations for otosclerosis were evaluated for 24 out of totally 26 clinics performing stapes surgery, between 2004 and 2010. The most common surgical technique reported was stapedotomy accomplished in an overnight stay. A majority of patients experienced improved hearing, and were satisfied with the preoperative counselling. Successful surgery, defined as an ABG closure ≤10 dB HL, was achieved in 69%, improvement in AC by ≥20 dB in 63% and BC not worsened by more than ≥5 dB in 93% of the patients. An overall low incidence of postoperative complications was reported. The outcome for ABG and BC was demonstrated to be independent of the number of operations performed by each clinic. An evaluation of the register and the results from the SQOS revealed that stapes surgery is a safe procedure with good hearing outcomes, low complication rates and a high rate of patient's satisfaction on a national level.