TY - JOUR PY - 1999// TI - Inner ear damage in TORP-operated ears: experimental study on danger from environmental air pressure changes JO - Annals of otology, rhinology, and laryngology A1 - Pau, H. W. SP - 745 EP - 749 VL - 108 IS - 8 N2 - In some cases of sudden inner ear hearing loss in ears with a total ossicular replacement prosthesis, the prosthesis has been found to be penetrating the footplate. Some authors have assumed an external pressure increase for this event. In this study I tried to estimate experimentally the pressure needed for perforating a normal footplate in a temporal bone model. From the data I concluded that "cracking" the footplate can hardly be due to 1 major event of increased pressure. On the other hand, different mechanisms making the footplate a "weak spot" must be discussed and further investigated. In those cases, secondary to thinned or even perforated footplates, environmental pressure changes may be dangerous.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0003-4894 UR - http://dx.doi.org/ ID - ref1 ER -