No abstract

Duringsurgical treatment of a patient with otosclerosis, the probability of success depends in large part on the extent of the surgeon's experience. Therefore, predicting the preoperative severity of disease may help determine the choice of surgeon based on how experienced the surgeon should be. Weconducteda study to evaluatethe relationship between hearing thresholds and footplate thickness in otosclerosis patients who underwent stapes surgery. We used a qualitative method for measuring footplate thickness that was based on the simplicity or difficultyof openingthefootplate. Our study population wasdivided into twogroups; group 1 was made up of 66 patients whosefootplates were easily opened with low pressure or with repeated motions by hand, and group 2 was made up of 14 patients whosefootplate waseither opened by drilling or not opened because it had been obliterated. Wefound that the patients in group 2, who had more severe disease, had significantly higher airand bone-conduction thresholds than did thepatients in group 1. According to ourfindings, otosclerotic patients with high air-and bone-conduction thresholds generally have more severe disease and thus require a more experienced surgeon.