comparison of fluoroplastic causse loop piston and titanium soft-clip in stapedotomy

introduction:different types of prosthesis are available for stapes replacement. because there has been no published report on the efficacy of the titanium soft-clip vs the fluoroplastic causse loop teflon piston, we compared short-term hearing results of both types of prosthesis in patients who underwent stapedotomy due to otosclerosis.materials and methods:a total of 57 ears were included in the soft-clip group and 63 ears were included in the teflon-piston group. pre-operative and post-operative air conduction, bone conduction, air-bone gaps, speech discrimination score, and speech reception thresholds were analyzed.results:post-operative speech reception threshold gains did not differ significantly between the two groups (p=0.919). however, better post-operative air-bone gap improvement at low frequencies was observed in the teflon-piston group over the short-term follow-up (at frequencies of 0.25 and 0.50 khz; p=0.007 and p=0.001, respectively).conclusion:similar post-operative hearing results were observed in the two groups in the short-term.