Association Between Cupular Deposits and Otosclerosis

Objective: To evaluate whether otosclerosis is an underlying mechanism for the production of cupular deposits and to study the association between cupular deposits and dysequilibrium in otosclerosis. Design:Retrospectivehumantemporalbone(TB)study. The incidence of cupular deposits in these 70 TBs was analyzed.Correlationsbetweencupulardepositsandvestibular symptoms, endosteal involvement of the otosclerotic focus, stapedial fixation, and clinical history of stapes surgery were evaluated. Setting: Otolaryngology laboratory in a tertiary academic medical center. Patients:Thestudymaterialconsistedof35humanTBs with otosclerosis and 35 age-matched controls. Main Outcome Measures: Morphometric evaluations of the incidence of cupular deposits, endosteal involvement of the otosclerotic focus, and stapedial fixationweremadebylightmicroscopy.Clinicalrecordswere reviewedretrospectivelyforclinicalhistoryofstapessurgery and prevalence of vestibular symptoms. The incidenceofcupulardepositswascomparedbetweentheotoscleroticandcontrolgroups.Correlationsbetweencupular deposits and vestibular symptoms, endosteal involvementoftheotoscleroticfocus,stapedialfixation,andclinical history of stapes surgery were evaluated in the subjects with otosclerosis. Results: The incidence of cupular deposits in TBs with otosclerosis was significantly higher than in those without whereas there was no correlation between the incidence of the deposits and dysequilibrium in cases of otosclerosis. An increase in deposits did not correlate with stapedial fixation, stapes surgery, or endosteal involvement. Conclusions:Our results suggest otosclerosis as an underlying mechanism for the production of cupular deposits; however, we did not find an association between these deposits and vestibular symptoms. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2006;132:1331-1334