Middle ear ossicular chain repair with titanium prosthesis

Middle ear ossicular chain can be damaged by congenital anomalies, inflammatory or traumatic changes that can cause conductive hearing loss up to a moderate level and significantly impede on quality of life of patients. In the article we describe the most common etiologies, standard diagnostic procedures and surgical options in patients with ossicular chain damage. We focus on the use of titanium prostheses which have been tried and proven in otology with good results. To illustrate the use of titanium prosthesis in conductive hearing loss we present a case of 13-year-old boy with post-inflammatory ossicular chain damage treated surgically at our institution and demonstrate an improvement of hearing threshold postoperatively. (author)