The Principles of Plastic Surgery of the Sound-Conducting Apparatus

Abstract

By FRITZ ZOLLNER (Freiburg, Germany) BECAUSE of the varying factors inherent in diseases of the soundconducting apparatus, the results given by rehabilitation surgery in this sense organ must be controlled with special caution so that the value of different methods may be judged as early as possible. My own material is not very voluminous, but from the very beginning I sought to investigate before the operation, the special conditions in each case, to record them by a sketch, to measure and interpret them as to their acoustic state. Thus certain conclusions can be drawn even from a small number of cases; but definite judgment will only be possible after a few_years, and only then will it be known whether the original disease was completely cured by the operation, and whether the plastic replacements-especially implanted tissue-will remain intact in the ear. I am sorry it is not so long since the very new variations of this surgical technique were first applied. Yet the cases treated four years ago show that by implanting some of the patient's own skin, hearing did not deteriorate but, on the contrary, improved during the first year and then remained constant. Only in cases of recurrence of inflammation which destroyed the new structures may the gain in hearing be wholly or partially lost. In such cases, however, the plastic operation can be repeated after the inflammation has been eliminated.