Short-term results using Kurz titanium ossicular implants.

The efficiency of titanium middle ear prosthesis for ossicular reconstruction in chronic ear disease is investigated in a Scandinavian two-center retrospective study from a Norwegian tertiary otology referral center and a Finnish otology referral center. Retrospective chart reviews were performed for procedures involving 73 titanium prostheses between 1999 and 2004. All patients that underwent surgery including the Kurz Vario titanium prosthesis were included in the study, 38 procedures including the partial ossicular replacement prosthesis (PORP) and 35 procedures including the total ossicular replacement prosthesis (TORP). Mean follow-up was 14 months. The ossiculoplasty was performed alone (29 patients) or in combination with other chronic ear surgery procedures (34 patients). Comparisons of preoperative and postoperative pure tone averages (0.5, 1, 2, and 3 kHz) according to AAO-HNS guidelines are presented, as well as data for different PTA definitions. Otosurgery procedures, complications, revisions, and extrusion rates are reported. A postoperative air-bone gap (ABG) of <or=20 dB was obtained in 77% of the patients, 89% for the Bell (Porp) prosthesis, and 63% for the Arial (Torp) prosthesis. Overall mean pure tone averages improved 20.6 dB with ABG improvement of 19.3 dB. The overall extrusion rate was 5% (4 patients). Titanium prostheses have been easy and fast to handle and effective implants for reconstruction of the ossicular chain. We found no difference between reconstruction with or without cholesteatoma surgery during the same procedure. The combination of CWD and Torp gave significant inferior hearing thresholds as compared to Torp/CWU and Porp/CWD combinations.