Clinical features of otosclerosis that determine the success of stapedotomy

We aimed to investigate the factors influencing the performance of planned stapedotomies for patients with definite otosclerosis. We evaluated 152 patients with otosclerosis who were divided into the stapedotomy and non-stapedotomy groups. Their patient backgrounds, pre- and post-operative hearing thresholds, and relationships between their preoperative hearing and stapedotomy conversion rates were compared. A total of 112 (73.7 %) patients underwent planned stapedotomies, and 40 (26.3 %) underwent non-stapedotomy procedures. The complications or postoperative hearing outcomes of the two groups were not significantly different. The non-stapedotomy group included significantly more female patients and left-sided cases and had lower preoperative 4000 Hz air conduction (AC) hearing thresholds than the stapedotomy group. The conversion to a non-stapedotomy procedure was performed for 33 of 77 (42.9 %) patients with preoperative 4000 Hz AC hearing thresholds of 50 dB or less. Patients with definite otosclerosis who were left-sided, those who were female, or those who had low preoperative 4000 Hz AC hearing thresholds had a higher risk of conversion to a non-stapedotomy procedure.