Comparison Between the Veillon and the Symons-Fanning CT Classification Systems for Otosclerosis

To analyze the correlation between outcomes of stapes surgery and preoperative and postoperative audiometric results with different radiological staging classifications such as the Veillon classification (VC) and the Symons-Fanning classification (SFC).

Retrospective observational study.

One tertiary hospital center.

Adult patients submitted to stapes surgery due to otosclerosis from January 2017 to December 2022.

Evaluation of different radiological classifications such as the VC and SFC.

Preoperative and postoperative pure-tone audiometric data, outcomes of stapes surgery success (closure of the ABG, rates of AC threshold less than or equal to 30 dB), and postoperative sensorineural hearing loss.

A total of 87 patients and 97 operated ears were included. The SFC was associated with preoperative BC (p = 0.041) and AC (p = 0.018) and postoperative BC (p = 0.026) with an increase in thresholds with higher radiological stages. The VC was associated with postoperative AC (p = 0.045) with an increase in AC thresholds with increasing radiological stages. Lastly, both the VC (p = 0.032) and the SFC (p = 0.023) were associated with a decrease in rates of postoperative AC thresholds ≤30 dB with higher radiological stages.

The SFC seems to be more useful to predict preoperative AC and BC and postoperative BC. On the contrary, the VC was more useful to predict postoperative AC. Both scales were similarly associated with the rate of AC thresholds ≤30 dB.