title: The stability of short-term hearing outcome after stapedotomy: a prospective database study.
abstract: CONCLUSIONS
  Current guidelines recommend reporting short-term results of > 12 months after treatment of conductive hearing loss. This study suggests that short-term hearing results after stapedotomy recorded at the 3-month follow-up are without loss of vital information compared with data from the currently recommended > 12-month follow-up. The use of 3-month data in reporting outcome could reduce the bias inherent to the loss to follow-up at 12 months.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the stability of short-term postoperative hearing after stapedotomy for otosclerosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a prospective database study; 371 cases with otosclerosis were registered in the database between August 2004 and June 2013. We included the 166 primary cases and 37 revision cases that had attended both follow-ups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean changes in postoperative hearing thresholds between the 3-month and 12-month follow-up in both primary and revision cases were minimal and clinically insignificant. In all, 3-5% of primary cases and 14-16% of revision cases experienced a change of ≥ 10 dB for the worse of one or more parameters between follow-ups. Results were also stable when considering a range of traditional success criteria. Other complications following surgery were infrequent and typically resolved long term.
authors: Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery , Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen , Denmark.
authors: Steven Arild Wuyts
authors: SA
authors: Andersen
authors: Malin Charlotta
authors: MC
authors: Öhman
authors: Mads Sølvsten
authors: MS
authors: Sørensen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001299:Audiometry; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006314:Hearing Loss, Conductive / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010040:Otosclerosis / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012086:Reoperation; D013201:Stapes Surgery; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Hearing; otosclerosis; stapedotomy; surgical outcome