Comparison of Fluoroplastic Causse Loop Piston and Titanium Soft-Clip in Stapedotomy

Abstract

<strong><em>Introduction:</em></strong><br />Different types of prosthesis are available for stapes replacement. Because there has been no published report on the efficacy of the titanium soft-clip vs the fluoroplastic Causse loop Teflon piston, we compared short-term hearing results of both types of prosthesis in patients who underwent stapedotomy due to otosclerosis.<br /><strong><em>Materials and Methods:</em></strong><br />A total of 57 ears were included in the soft-clip group and 63 ears were included in the Teflon-piston group. Pre-operative and post-operative air conduction, bone conduction, air-bone gaps, speech discrimination score, and speech reception thresholds were analyzed.<br /><strong><em>Results:</em></strong><br />Post-operative speech reception threshold gains did not differ significantly between the two groups (P=0.919). However, better post-operative air-bone gap improvement at low frequencies was observed in the Teflon-piston group over the short-term follow-up (at frequencies of 0.25 and 0.50 kHz; P=0.007 and P=0.001, respectively).<br /><strong><em>Conclusion:</em></strong><br />Similar post-operative hearing results were observed in the two groups in the short-term.