Otosclerosis of the incus.

OBJECTIVE: To report a case of a patient with otosclerosis of the incus. PATIENTS: A 61-year-old woman with a progressive hearing loss on her left ear and a computed tomographic scan of the temporal bone revealing an expansible lesion of the incus. INTERVENTIONS: The ossicle was removed by using a transtympanomastoid approach; the ossicular chain was reconstructed using a titanium partial ossicular replacement prosthesis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The diagnosis of the disease was obtained by means of histopathologic examination of the specimen. RESULTS: The patient obtained a good postoperative hearing result. The histopathologic examination of the specimen documented an otosclerosis of the incus. CONCLUSION: Otosclerotic involvement of the middle ear ossicles, apart from footplate, was very rarely mentioned. Most subjects were incidentally diagnosed postmortem by means of examination of specimens from temporal bone collections. The diagnosis and treatment of a patient with otosclerosis of the incus is exceptional; however, otosclerosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of expansible lesions of the ossicles.