Transplant of Incus Homograft in the Human

Abstract

IT HAS BEEN my experience that long-term results for improved hearing by using a plastic or other synthetic material to form a columella from the tympanic membrane to the oval window have been unsatisfactory. For cases in which there was no remnant of the ossicular chain, other than the footplate of the stapes, the use of a suitable columella that would approximate the results obtained by transposing the incus was indicated. The improvement in hearing obtained by transposing the incus with the tip of the short process on the oval window and the long process under the neck of the malleous has been satisfactory in 132 procedures performed in the past six years (Table 1). This paper presents the changes in hearing and the histopathologic changes of an incus homograft transplanted in the human ear during reconstructive surgery. A review of the literature did not reveal