The purpose of this paper is to present a new operation, designed to be a standard operation, to eradicate infection and to restore hearing in deafness caused by chronic otitis media.
The operation is performed as a one-stage surgical procedure. For convenience of description, however, it will be divided into three stages: (1) the elimination of diseased tissue, (2) the plastic technique for rebuilding a middle-ear air space, and (3) the reestablishment of a new conductive mechanism. Each stage will be presented in turn; the technique will be illustrated, and the advantages will be described.
First Stage
To eliminate diseased tissue, in what may be called the curative part of the operation, I have used the radical mastoidectomy. The steps in the execution of this familiar procedure require no explanation except in relation to the preservation of the skin of the auditory canal. This skin is needed to carry