Results of stapes surgery - subjective and objective.

A review of subjective and objective results of stapes surgery performed by one general otolaryngologist shows excellent correlation between the two. However, hearing results are poorer, and the complication rate higher than is usually reported. We recommend that patients be informed pre-operatively of the success rate and complication rate in the practice of their surgeon rather than the excellent results reported in the literature. Patients with unilateral hearing loss should be discouraged from undergoing stapes surgery. Approximately half of these patients do not obtain binaural hearing, and thus the success rate does not justify the risk of a complication. Further studies are required to determine whether stapes surgery should be performed only by otologists doing a high volume of such surgery.