REVISION STAPES SURGERY - A CRITICAL-EVALUATION

Fifty-six revision stapes surgeries performed during the last 9 years were evaluated retrospectively for their preoperative symptoms, intrao perative findings, and postoperative results according to the causes o f failure, at the Gruppo Otologico, Piacenza, Italy. The most frequent causes of failure were found to be prosthetic misalignments, a reacti on to the surgical trauma in the form of excess fibrous tissue reactio n or new bony regrowth at the oval window, and ossicular chain problem s. The location of the pathology was found to be an important factor i n the outcome. Sixty percent of cases resulted in 0- to 20-dB air-bone gap. The causes of these failures, management, and their prevention d uring primary surgeries are also discussed.