[Revision stapedectomy].

Early and delayed complications in the inner or middle ear may follow stapedectomy and require revision surgery. The records of 72 patients who had undergone revision stapedectomy were analyzed to determine: 1. the causes of failure. 2. how to revise the conditions due to the failure following previous operation. 3. hearing results. These 72 revision operations consisted of 66 case of conductive deafness and 6 sensorineural loss. The commonest cause of failure was dysfunction of prosthesis (23.6 per cent), followed by otosclerotic regrowth (22.2 per cent), incus dislocation (13.9 per cent), reparative granuloma (12.5 per cent), incus necrosis (11.1 per cent), and fibrous adhesions (9.7 per cent). A review of these cases demonstrates that the results of revision stapedectomy are different from those for primary stapedectomy. The revision operations resulted in post-operative air-born gaps of 15 dB or less in 39.4 per cent of cases. Primary stapedectomy resulted in successful closure of the air-bone gap to 15 dB or less in 97.2 per cent of cases. 'Dead ears' were encountered in 9.1 per cent as against 2.1 per cent in the primary cases. Thus the surgeon should be aware of the problems and risks involved in revision stapedectomy.