Morphometric study of stapes and its variation in Eastern Indian population

: For audiological prosthesis surgery morphometry of stapes is of utmost importance. Previous studies were mainly based on foreign and northern Indian population. Hence the present study.: To measure the morphometric parameters of stapes and compare the same with the previous studies.: This cross sectional observational study, performed on the ear ossicle, stapes obtained from 26 cadaveric heads. A total of (26 x 2) = 52 sets of stapes were taken out for the study. Measurements of various parameters of the ossicles were done with micrometer. Comparison among them with respect to sex, laterality and race were made. Age variation was not considered as the ossicles reach their full size at birth. Statistically significant difference in the total height of stapes was observed between male and female ossicles, but no such disparity was found between ossicles of the two sides. Height of stapes in males (mean: 3.35mm) was found to be significantly higher (p value: 0.00001) as compared to females (mean:3.18mm) in this present study. In surgeries for otosclerosis, the stapes superstructure is removed and replaced by a prosthetic ‘piston’, the selection of which is determined by the distance between the lenticular process of incus and the footplate of stapes, which in turn corresponds to the height of stapes superstructure. This measurement is vital for a properly fit piston and thus to the outcome of the surgery in terms of hearing improvement and lack of complications like expulsion of the piston, intractable vertigo, etc. When the mean values found in this study were compared with those of previous foreign and Indian studies, some of the values were found to be similar. : The height of stapes was shorter in our study as compared to studies based on North Indian population. These differences might point towards geographic or ethnic variations in the stapes which might call for further research work into this topic.