Congenital middle ear diseases - clinical and management significance.

The anatomical abnormalities of the middle ear are important elements in the differential diagnosis regarding child hearing loss, taking in consideration the frequent inflammatory pathology encountered at this age. We present some clinical and surgical features linked to a case series having the same condition: conductive hearing loss. Objective. To discuss the main causes of diagnostic errors in cases of children with hearing loss. Materials and method. A retrospective study, including some cases with anatomical abnormalities of the middle ear that were sent and managed in the ENT Department of the "M.S. Curie" Emergency Clinical Hospital for Children. Results. One case of stapedial artery, two cases of congenital absent stapes, four cases with tympanic membrane, ossicular chain and external auditory canal malformations, three cases of congenital cholesteatoma, and one case with ossified stapes are presented. Conclusions. Middle ear and tympanic malformations can be diagnosed usually by a thorough clinical examination, completed with good quality imagistics and with various audiological assessments. The therapeutic approach can be challenging and requires a detailed discussion with the patient in order to get completely satisfying results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]