Objective: To assess clinical safety and efficacy of the erbium: yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Er:YAG) laser in the stapes surgery; to define and optimize parameters that render the procedure safe for the inner ear.
Study design: Retrospective study.
Material and methods: A microscope-integrated Er:YAG laser stapedotomy was performed on 29 patients and a conventional stapedotomy on 41 patients. An early (within 1 to 3 days after stapes surgery) and late (at least 6 weeks) pure-tone bone-conduction threshold audiogram was obtained.
Results: No statistically significant differences were found by Student's t test over all measured frequencies between pre- and postoperative bone-conduction thresholds in each group. There was no statistically significant difference for all frequencies between early (3 days) and late postoperative mean bone-conduction thresholds.
Conclusions: The results of our preliminary clinical study showed that erbium laser poses no risk to inner ear function. However, the lack of standardization obliges further investigation to establish safe clinical parameters of the Er:YAG laser.