A MODIFIED FENESTRATION TECHNIC: ANALYSIS OF RESULTS IN ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-ONE CONSECUTIVE OPERATIONS

Abstract

For more than half a century, in fact, since the condition was first recognized as a pathologic and clinical entity, otologists have sought a method of alleviating the hearing impairment of otosclerosis by medical or surgical means. One method attempted by such eminent otologists as Passow, Bárány and Holmgren has been the surgical construction of a new labyrinthine window to take the place of the occluded oval window. Sourdille, using a complicated and prolonged three or four stage operative technic, appears to have been the first to secure lasting and significant hearing improvement in cases of otosclerosis. Lempert, in 1938, modified, simplified and combined Sourdille's series of operations into a single, one stage fenestration operation, which for the first time seemed to offer the possibility of producing a lasting improvement of hearing in cases of otosclerosis by means of a practical one stage operation. This work has been followed by