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Updated: Sep 15, 2026

The Microscopic Transcanal Approach in Stapes Surgery Revisited
Published on: February 16, 2022
Long-Term Hearing Outcomes of NiTiBOND versus SMart Nitinol Prostheses in Stapes Surgery-A Retrospective Cohort Study
Péter Révész1, Kálmán Rígler2, Imre Gerlinger2
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Clinical Center, University of Pécs Medical School, Pécs, Hungary.
Background:
Perform a statistical analysis of the long-term hearing results for 2 groups after stapedotomy using different heat-memory stapes prostheses.
Methods:
A retrospective study of 42 patients who underwent stapedotomy using either NiTiBOND (n=25) or SMart Nitinol (n=17) thermal shape memory prostheses. Statistical differences were assessed with univariate and multivariate analysis. Success was defined as a postoperative air-bone gap (ABG) ≤ 10 dB. A Pvalue < .05 was considered statistically significant.
Results:
The audiological outcomes were measured at an average of 7.3 and 13.4 years postoperatively for NiTiBOND and Nitinol, respectively. The postoperative ABG was a mean of 5.18 ± 5.59 dB and 4.71 ± 5.02 dB; no statistically significant difference was observed between the groups. Three patients achieving >10 dB postoperative ABG underwent high-resolution computed tomography, but none showed noticeable pathological changes.
Conclusion:
The study demonstrated excellent audiological outcomes with both prostheses and appears to be stable in the long term.