title: Middle ear exploration results in suspected otosclerosis cases: are ossicular and footplate area anomalies rare?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Otosclerosis is a disease of bony labyrinth. Structural changes in the labyrinth often cause ossicular fixation, and thus conductive hearing loss. The purpose of this study was to evaluate middle ear exploration findings and frequency of ossicular and footplate area anomalies in patients with suspected otosclerosis referred to Amiralmomenin and Golsar Hospitals in Rasht, Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 47 patients undergone middle ear exploration in Amiralmomenin and Golsar hospitals from April 2001 to March 2011, the intraoperative findings, and other data were extracted from the medical records of the patients. The data was analyzed using SPSS 17 software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Frequency of fixation of stapes, malleus, and incus by age and sex in patients undergoing middle ear exploration showed that stapes had been fixed in 39 patients, malleus in 6 patients, and incus in 21 patients. Analysis of data showed that there was no significant association between sex and age with fixation of any of ossicles (P>0/05). Middle ear anomalies were seen in 16 cases (34.0%). Overhanging of facial nerve in 4 cases, thick stapedial crura in 5 cases, and perilymph gusher in 2 cases were the most frequent anomalies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study show that the results of middle ear explorations in our patients in the north of Iran is somehow different from the typical otosclerotic cases, although the frequency of ossicular anomalies is better to be evaluated and compared in different areas of Iran, and other countries.
authors.affiliation: Otolaryngology-head and neck surgery Research Center, Amiralmomenin Hospital. Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
authors.forename: Shadman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nemati
authors.forename: Naghavi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ebrahim
authors.forename: Ehsan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kaemnejad
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aghjanpour
authors.forename: Omid
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Abdollahi
keywords: Anomalies; Incus; Malleus; Middle ear exploration; Ossicular fixation; Otosclerosis; Stapes