Background and Objectives: Exploratory tympanotomy is used in patients with conductive hearing loss when the cause of hearing loss is in doubt. By exploratory tympanotomy, the cause of conductive hearing loss could be found and corrected
surgically
at
the same time. This study was designed to understand the pathology and the clinical feature of the conductive hearing loss with normal appearing tympanic membrane. Materials and Methods: Twenty-six patients with conductive hearing loss who had
under
gone exploratory tympanotomy, from January, 1990 to May, 1997, were retrospectively analyzed. Results: Of 26 cases, the most common cause of the conductive hearing loss was congenital ossicular anomalies, with congenital fixations of the stapes
being
the most frequent among them. The other middle ear pathology included congenital cholesteatoma, sequelae of otitis media, idiopathic incus-stapes separation. In most cases, postoperative hearing has improved. Conclusion: Through exploratory
tympanotomy,
abnormal middle ear findings could be found and corrected satisfactorily in most cases of the conductive hearing loss with normal appearing tympanic membrane.
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