Incidence of fallopian canal dehiscence at surgery for chronic otitis media.

The objectives of this study were to determine the incidence and locations of dehiscence of the fallopian canal (FC) in patients undergoing surgery for different middle ear pathologies and to describe the findings that will aid in pre-operative prediction of dehiscence. Charts and operative details of the 118 ears managed with canal wall-down and 147 ears managed with canal wall-up tympanomastoidectomy performed by a single surgeon were retrospectively reviewed. The distribution of the diagnoses for ears that were operated was as follows: 118 ears cholesteatoma, 42 ears adhesive otitis, 23 ears tympanosclerosis, and 82 ears chronic otitis media. The presence and the location of facial nerve dehiscence after exenteration of the disease as well as the presence of any coexisting inner ear fistula and dural defect were noted. FC dehiscence was observed in 56 of the cases. The incidence of dehiscence was highest among ears with cholesteatoma (n = 44, P < 0.05). Adults and also male patients in the study had significantly higher incidence of dehiscence compared to pediatric (P < 0.05) and female (P < 0.01) patients. The most common location for dehiscence was the tympanic segment which was significantly higher than the other locations (P < 0.01). Among the ears with FC dehiscence, labyrinthine fistula presence was seen in ten ears which was also significant (P < 0.001). Patients with dural exposure were 12.06 times more likely to have FC dehiscence than those without dural exposure. The incidence of FC dehiscence was 1.26 times higher in revision operations, but the difference was not significant (P > 0.05). An otologic surgeon should be more careful while performing operation for cholesteatoma in an adult and male patient because of the high incidence of dehiscence observed in these ears. Presence of lateral semicircular canal fistula and erosion of the bony tegmen should also be considered as a clue for the presence of dehiscence before surgery. Operation of these ears should be performed by experienced surgeons in otology.

A comparison of cartilage palisades and fascia in type 1 tympanoplasty in children: anatomic and functional results.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the anatomic and functional results of primary Type1 cartilage tympanoplasty performed with the palisade technique and to compare them with the results of primary Type 1 tympanoplasty performed with temporalis fascia in children. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective case review. SETTING: Tertiary referral center. PATIENTS: The records of 45 children with intact ossicular chain and no history of mastoidectomy or tympanic perforations occupying more than 50% of the membrane area were evaluated. Patients with similar age and middle ear pathologic findings were selected in an effort to make the groups as homogeneous as possible. Of those, 21 children were included in the cartilage study group, and 24 patients were included in the fascia group. INTERVENTIONS: An over-under tympanoplasty technique using either a palisaded tragal cartilage or temporalis muscle fascia. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Successful outcome was defined as full, intact healing of the graft without perforation, retraction, or lateralization for at least 12 months after the operation and with improvement of hearing. Postoperative speech reception thresholds and postoperative air-bone gap were compared with preoperative levels within and between the groups. RESULTS: Tympanoplasty with the palisade cartilage technique resulted in a significantly higher graft acceptance rate (100%) than with the fascia technique (70.2%; p = 0.008). Speech reception threshold levels, pure-tone average, and air-bone gaps improved significantly with surgery in both the palisade and fascia groups (p < 0.001). Comparison of audiologic results between the groups did not reveal any statistically significant difference (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Palisade tympanoplasty in children yielded good anatomic and functional results. The anatomic results obtained using this technique were superior to those obtained using temporalis muscle fascia. Children who underwent Type 1 tympanoplasty with palisaded cartilage had equivalent postoperative audiometric results compared with children who underwent Type 1 tympanoplasty with temporalis fascia. Thus, palisade cartilage tympanoplasty is an effective technique for both tympanic membrane closure and hearing improvement in children.