Labyrinthine Fenestration—The Present Position

THERE have been many references in both the medical and the lay press to the operative treatment of otosclerosis ; while unfortunately certain periodicals have published the most extraordinary and wild claims on its behalf. Otologists in this and many other countries are taking an ever increasing interest in the subject and several of them are beginning, or are about to begin, to try their hand at it : therein lies the danger ; and the time is, therefore, surely ripe for a dispassionate survey of the whole field and an attempt to present the naked facts stripped of all embroidery, to point out the dangers and to describe in detail a technique whereby such dangers may be reduced to a minimum. It is not proposed in this article to discuss either the aetiology or the pathology of otosclerosis—these have already been dealt with ad nauseum elsewhere. Since, however, the differential diagnosis is of such importance and has for some reason received but scant attention, it may serve a useful purpose to give a brief summary of it :—