■ OBJECTIVE: To review the postoperative results of 1000 cases of stapessurgery performed in the AMC hospital and the University of Amsterdam.

■ MATERIAL AND METHOD: Retrospective case series of 1000 patients implanted with a stapesprosthesis for otosclerosis. A retrospective analysis of the preoperative and postoperative audiological results. All data of the operated patients were stored in computer and analyzed by spreadsheet program.

■ RESULTS: The averagepreoperative air-bone gap (250 Hz – 4 kHz) in this series was 34, 5 dB (fig4.). Postoperative air-bone gap (250 Hz – 4 kHz) was 12, 2 dB(fig 5.).Analyzing the improvement of the air-bone gap the hearing function becamebetter in 94, 3 %. In 2, 9 % the air-bone gap did not change after surgery. In2, 8 % of the cases we lost the perceptive hearing function.

■ CONCLUSION: Thisretrospective study of 1000 stapes operations shows that this type of surgerycan be very successful in restoration of the hearing function in cases ofotosclerosis. The number of side effects is very low.