Stapedotomy and Stapedectomy Outcomes as Surgical Approaches in Juvenile Otosclerosis: A Systematic Review

Background: Pediatric otosclerosis is characterized by progressive conductive hearing loss with a relatively low incidence, compared to adults. The treatment approaches range from conservative options, such as hearing aids, to surgical managements including stapedectomy and stapedotomy. Aim: To compare hearing outcomes (air-bone gap<10 dB) after stapedectomy vs. stapedotomy in patients with juvenile otosclerosis. Methods: We conducted a systematic search in Google scholar, PubMed, and Scopus. Studies reporting the outcomes of stapedectomy and/or stapedotomy and those specifically defining the mixed data from data of each procedure for the patients under the age of 18 years old with juvenile sclerosis were included. On the other hand, post-operative air-bone gap was extracted. There was no time limitation for search of studies. Results: After evaluating all studies, post-operative air-bone gap below 10dB ranged from 66% to 91% of cases in stapedectomy group and from 66% to 92% in stapedotomy group. Conclusion:Based on the reviewed studies, we found similar success rates in hearing outcome of the patients with juvenile otosclerosis following stapedotomy and stapedectomy.