Stapedotomy Surgery

Stapedotomy is a surgical procedure to treat loss of hearing most commonly caused by Otosclerosis, a condition that affects the normal functioning of the stapes bone.

The stapes is the last hearing bone in the chain of bones in the middle ear; and it is normally mobile and attached by a ligament to an opening of the bone that houses the inner ear, called the oval window. A fixed stapes bone caused by bone formation in the ligament that surrounds the base, stops movement of the bone and thus causes a mechanical or conductive hearing loss.

Stapedotomy (sometimes known as stapedectomy) surgery involves replacing the damaged stapes with a prosthesis (artificial stapes) so that sound is effectively transmitted from the eardrum to the inner ear bypassing the stapes. This resolves the problem of conductive hearing loss.

3D reconstruction of a prosthesis placed to replace the diseased stapes bone during stapedotomy surgery to cure hearing loss as a result of otosclerosis

Mukherjee P, Uzun H, Curthoys I, Jones A, Bradshaw A, Pohl D. Three dimensional analysis of the vestibular end organs in relation to the stapes footplate and piston placement. Otology and Neurotology. 2011; 32 (3): 367-72.