A comparison of fenestration of the horizontal canal and stapedectomy in the opposite ear.

The Lempert one stage horizontal semicircular canal fenestration was the surgical procedure of choice for otosclerosis from 1939 to 1954. Subsequently, mobilization and stapedectomy replaced fenestration. In the offices of Drs. Day, Jordan, and Caparosa, the horizontal semicircular canal fenestration was performed from 1940 to 1955; the mobilization, two years; and, thereafter, the stapedectomy. A significant number of patients have had fenestration on one side and stapedectomy on the opposite ear. Fifty patients seen consecutively were reviewed. Reliable office audiological testing has been available only in the more recent years; and, therefore, audiological statistical comparison has limited reliability. It is felt, however, that a review of these patients and the study of their surviving hearing results is a worthwhile inferential comparison.