ENDAURAL FENESTRATION OF EXTERNAL SEMICIRCULAR CANAL FOR RESTORATION OF HEARING IN CASES OF OTOSCLEROSIS: SUMMARY REPORT OF ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY CASES

Abstract

The fenestration technic¹advocated for permanent restoration of practical physiologic hearing in cases of otosclerosis is an endaural, plastic reconstruction of the auditory mechanism for the creation of a new air conduction apparatus. It consists of: Creation of a troughlike fenestra of specified length and width in the bony capsule of the external semicircular canal with the aid of a polishing and burnishing burr. This fenestra is created in order to replace the nonfunctioning fenestra ovalis and thus to mobilize the labyrinthine perilymph and endolymph for air-borne sound. Incorporation of this newly created fenestra in the external semicircular canal, which is to assume the function of the fenestra ovalis, within the confines of a newly reconstructed air-filled and hermetically sealed tympanic cavity. To accomplish this, it is necessary to: Create a completely intact, liberated, tympanomeatal cutaneous membrane, which consists of that portion of the cutaneous lining from which