Thulium laser in stapedotomy surgery

Abstract

Background: Thulium laser use in stapedotomy surgery is usually associated with many doubts regarding the thermal effect on the vestibular area and the production of acoustic shock waves, which may result in permanent complications.

Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the Thulium laser use in stapedotomy and its long-term effects on the clinical and audiological results.

Material and methods: It was a retrospective randomized case-series study. We included 148 otosclerosis patients. They were divided randomly into two groups; group A (multiple shots) included 62 patients and group B (one shot with a manual perforator) included 86 patients.

Results: There was a statistically significant improvement of the ABG in both groups. ABG closure (<10 dB) occurred in 87.1% of patients in group A, and 89.5% of patients in group B. Intraoperative complications were more in group B (p-value = 0.038). The postoperative complications were more in group A (p-value = .017).

Conclusions: According to our experience on a relatively large number of cases, the Thulium laser is a safe tool to be used in stapedotomy either in multiple shots or one shot with a manual perforator. It improved functional hearing efficiently without showing signs of inner ear impairment.

Keywords: Stapedotomy; audiology; inner ear; laser; thulium.