SURGICAL treatment of the hearing loss in otosclerosis eliminates most of the severe manifestations of the disease, but not the cause. In recent years, therefore, much research has been directed toward the study of the etiology and pathogenesis of otosclerosis.
The views of Wittmaack (1931), Wolff (1950), and Rüedi (1965) on the vascular genesis of otosclerosis, and of Anson and Bast (1949), as well as A. K. Pokotilenko (1965, 1967) on the role of embryonic remnants in the capsule of the labyrinth in the formation of the otosclerotic focus, the anthropological theory of Sercer (1961), and the role of the constitutional and endocrine disorders are all hypothetical and do not explain the multiform morphological peculiarities of the otosclerotic process.
The bases of the histological changes in otosclerosis were worked out in a study of the petrous pyramid of the temporal bone related to the type of people suffering from this