title: Experience with a new pure gold piston in stapedotomy for cases of otosclerosis.
abstract: This study reports the evaluation of the hearing results after 62 implantations of a pure gold (99.9%) piston in cases of otosclerosis. A retrospective analysis of the pre- and postsurgery audiological results of these patients was carried out by microcomputer. This study shows that the use of a pure gold piston ((K-piston) with a diameter of 0.4 mm gives good results in cases of stapedotomy for otosclerosis. The hearing results show a closure of the pure-tone average (PTA) air-bone gap to within 10 dB was 70.9% (44/62) and to within 20 dB in 95.1% (59/62). A residual airbone-gap of > 20 dB was seen in three cases (4.8%). A postoperative overclosure of bone conduction thresholds was discovered for all frequencies measured. Sensorineural hearing loss (> 10%) did not occur and there was no decline in the speech discrimination. The future for this new generation of stapes pistons seems to be promising.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. R.A.Tange@AMC.UVA.nl
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Tange
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: de Bruijn
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Grolman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D001844:Bone Conduction / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006046:Gold; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008838:Microcomputers; D008875:Middle Aged; D009998:Ossicular Prosthesis; D010040:Otosclerosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests; D013201:Stapes Surgery / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: D006046:Gold