The results of the surgical treatment of otosclerosis at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Medical University of Warsaw, based on the guidelines of the American Academy of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

Abstract

Introduction: Comparision of hearing outcomes in patients with conductive hearing loss after surgical treatment should be standardized. In 1995 the Committee on Hearing and Equilibrium of the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery published guidelines to standardize the reporting of treatment results in ossiculoplasty, stapes surgery, Meniere’s disease and schwannoma of the cerebellopontine angle. Despite the fact that the quality of presenting results significantly improved, some limitation remains. In 2012 Hearing Committee of the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery published minimal standard of reporting hearing outcomes relating average pure-tone thresholds to word recognition score in scattegram. Aim: Authors present the results of surgical treatment of otosclerosis based on 46 cases treated at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Medical University of Warsaw, Poland using the AAO-HNS guidelines from 1995 and 2012. The aim of the study was to evaluate the postoperative hearing results and to compare them with preoperative audiometric results and with similar reports published in the medical literature. Materials and methods: Retrospective analysis of medical history of patients with otosclerosis. Results: In this work the post-operative air bone gap ≤10 dB recognised as a very good result was obtained in 67.4% of patients. The post-operative air bone gap ≤20 dB, recognized as a good result was obtained in 89.1% patients. Conclusions: It is recommended to standardized the post-surgical audiometric data to compare the results among the different Departments.