Fenestration for otosclerosis; report of one hundred and twenty-three cases.

THAT the Lempert fenestration operation will restore practical, serviceable hearing to a large percentage of patients with clinical otosclerosis is no longer doubted except by a few of the most skeptical otologists. That the improvement of hearing is permanent is probable. I have patients, operated on over four years ago, who have retained good hearing, and Lempert has patients whose improvement has lasted over seven years. Objection is made by some that those who treat by this method do not remove the cause of otosclerosis, and this objection is certainly true, but that is no reason why otologists should allow patients to be handicapped by their deafness. Clinical otosclerosis becomes manifest when the base of the stapes becomes more or less fixed in the oval window. Regardless of the amount of active otosclerosis in the surrounding areas of the labyrinthine capsule, deafness does not manifest itself until this fixation takes