Management of the oval and round windows

Abstract

In spite of numerous attempts to document both middle ear pathology and its surgical management for the purpose of electronic data processing (e.g. Schmitt, Shea, Strauss) only little attention was paid to the recording of oval and round window abnormalities. Schmitt provided space for six pathological features of the oval and round windows, while documentation of surgical measures was confined to the oval niche, dealing predominantly with the handling of squamous epithelium or mucosa grafting. Strauß, who has outlined a model for the recording and electronic processing of data resulting from middle ear surgery, takes notice only of the width of the oval window, but does not mention the round window. In the documentation sheets of Gerhardt and Mercke no particular space is reserved for the description of window pathology, nor for the performed window surgery. Though there exist instructive descriptions of graded changes in middle ear malformations, otitis media or otosclerosis (Gristwood, Guerrier et al., Shea) no overhead system exists for the uniform documentation of different lesions.