Reconstructive surgery of the auditory chain with titanium implantation of an artificial auditory tuberosity

  Chronic suppurative otitis media is a common disease in otolaryngology, and a large proportion of patients need to be treated surgically. At present, our department has successfully carried out the first case of titanium artificial auditory chain reconstruction with small bone implantation, which marks our hospital has reached the advanced level in China in the area of tympanic chamber molding auditory chain reconstruction.  The patient, female, 56 years old, is a farmer from Yangqu County, who has been suffering from hearing loss in the right ear for more than 40 years due to intermittent flow of pus. At the end of April this year, she came to our hospital for recurrence of otitis media. After examination, it was found that the patient’s auditory tuberosity was destroyed, the hammer bone stalk and supra-stapes plate structures existed, the middle ear air-containing cavity completely disappeared, the hearing threshold was 75dB on hearing examination, and the air-bone conduction difference was 30-60dB, which was conductive deafness, and was an indication for titanium artificial auditory tuberosity implantation auditory chain reconstruction and open tympanoplasty.  After discussion, careful consideration and good communication with the patient and his family, we performed titanium implantation and open tympanoplasty on May 10, 2012. The surgery went very well. Reconstruction of the auditory chain is a procedure to restore a stable link between the tympanic membrane and the inner ear to restore or improve the function of the middle ear sound transmission system. The current hearing reconstruction surgery using our advanced surgical microscope (ZEISS-S88) and power system has further improved the surgical level of our department of otomicrosurgery and made the otomicrosurgery technology ahead of the province.