Allograft stapes surgery for conductive hearing loss in patients with ossicular chain anomalies.

An allograft stapes was used during surgical intervention for conductive hearing loss due to ossicular malformations in 11 ears of seven patients. The external auditory canal and tympanic membrane were normal in all ears. The surgical findings for the ossicles were stapes fixation (7 ears), stapes fixation with discontinuity of the incudostapedial joint (in both ears of one patient), a deformed incus and stapes crura compressed by the facial nerve (one ear in which the stapes was not fixed) and an anomaly of the incus and stapes combined with a dermoid cyst (in one ear in which the stapes was also not fixed). In all ears, the following procedures were performed: stapedectomy followed by sealing the oval window with a vein graft and placing an allograft stapes between the oval window and the lenticular process of the incus or the handle of the malleus. The allograft stapes was placed with its capitulum on the oval window in all cases, and fibrin glue was used for stabilizing the seal and the allograft stapes. The indications for stapedectomy for conductive hearing loss due to ossicular chain anomalies and the utility of allograft stapes are discussed.