Twenty-five years of experience with stapedectomy.

The purpose of this report is to review the outcomes of patients undergoing stapes surgery by the senior author during the past 25 years, and to compare these results with those obtained in other series. A retrospective analysis of 902 patients who underwent stapes surgery by the senior author from 1970 to 1994 was performed. Twenty-two patients underwent stapedotomy; the remainder underwent stapedectomy. Pure-tone averages for air and bone conduction, air-bone gap closure, technique, complications, and patient satisfaction were compared with results obtained in other stapedectomy and stapedotomy series.