Malleus Teflon piston prosthesis.

Abstract

The malleus Teflon piston prosthesis is very useful to reconstruct the sound conducting mechanism of the middle ear in absent or inadequate incus, congenital malformation of the middle ear, and epitympanic fixation of the incus and/or malleus. It has a thin-walled loop at its upper end to lessen the tendency for ulceration of the overlying drum with an inside diameter of 1 mm to fit around the mid portion of the handle of the malleus at an angle of 30 degrees to the shaft of the prosthesis. There is a cut in the distal part of the loop through which it is snapped onto the handle of the malleus after it is separated from the drum. Examples of the various situations in which this prosthesis has been used will be shown together with the results regarding hearing gain, complications, and other problems. Those situations in which the prosthesis was used in 1972 will be reviewed to give a 10-year follow-up, plus some notable examples of other uses of the prosthesis from other times.