Recurrent meningitis due to congenital fistula of stapedial footplate

Abstract

A case of recurrent [bacterial] meningitis due to a stapes footplate fistula in a child with Klippel-Fiel syndrome is reported. The relationshp of deafness to this latter syndrome is noted and theories for the etiology of the fistula are discussed. A stapedectomy was performed and the oval window was obliterated using a Schuknecht fat-wire prosthesis with further packing of the middle ear with muscle.