How to treat otosclerosis

  The treatment of otosclerosis has two types of methods: conservative treatment and surgical treatment.  (1) Conservative treatment medication: Those who are not suitable for surgery or unwilling to accept surgery can try sodium fluoride, but its efficacy is not yet certain, and it is rarely used in China. Hearing aids are an effective treatment option. For those who are depressed or irritable, medication can be given for symptomatic treatment.  (2) Surgical treatment: The main surgical methods are stapes surgery and hemi-routine opening. Stapes surgery is to remove all or part of the affected stapes, and then reconstruct the auditory chain with suitable repair materials to improve hearing. Any patient with otosclerosis who is found to have a hearing loss of 30 dB or more by pure tone audiometry, a difference of 15 dB or more in air-bone conduction, and a speech discrimination rate of more than 60% can, in principle, undergo stapes surgery as long as there are no other contraindications to surgery. The stapedectomy is a small window in the bony semicircular canal, so that the sound waves do not pass through the auditory chain, but are redirected to the inner ear through this window, which also has a certain effect on improving hearing.