Inner Ear Pathology After Experimental Stapedectomy

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Abstract
SEVERE sensorineural deafness after stapedectomy is still a problem in otosclerosis surgery. Permanent cochlear losses may occur immediately after surgery or may have a delayed onset of weeks or months following an initial good result. It is especially difficult to understand the profound delayed cochlear loss which can sometimes follow an uncomplicated stapedectomy. The incidence of this complication varies somewhat according to the different reports as well as, probably, to interpretation of cases which qualify for selection. An incidence of 2.6% has been reported by Schuknecht,1 2.4% by House,2 and 2.5% by Portmann.3 Cochlear lesions may occur twice as often in stapedectomy revisions (not mobilization) and three times as often in fenestration revisions,4 so that apparently the more often the inner ear is opened in otosclerosis surgery the greater the possibility of developing irreversible pathological cochlear changes. Shambaugh and Takahara5 have evaluated both early and