[Treatment of otosclerosis in children].
Between 1994 and 2004 in the ENT Department Silesian Medical University Zabrze 330 stapedotomy were performed in patients suffered from otosclerosis. In this group of patient's 16 stapedotomies in 13 children aged from 9 to 17 years were performed. 4.85% of all the patients with otosclerosis treated in our Department were children. The purpose of this study was to analyze the audiologic results of stapedotomies in children. The postoperative evaluations were performed in the period from 6 months to 8 years after the surgical treatment. In the hearing state evaluation we analyzed the change of the air-bone gap, an average air conduction hearing improvement, the rate of percentage hearing improvement and an average hearing loss by Bell Telephone Laboratories. In all the operated children we observed the decrease of the air conduction hearing level. Stapedotomy was successful (postoperative air bone gap within 10 dB) in 62.5% of the cases. In 5 cases the air bone gap was lower than 20 dB (31.25%). In one case it was greater then 20 dB. The air bone gap closure was at the average of 4.39 dB level. The results were comparable with the other authors. Stapedotomy can be an effective procedure for correcting conducting hearing losses due to the otosclerosis in the pediatric patients.