CANAL WALL DOWN TYMPANOPLASTY

R. Kılıç, U. Çelik, U.Emir, H. Korkmaz, U. Bayız, C. Özeri

Surgical treatment of chronic otitis media is still controversial. Although there is a great improvement in ear surgery in the last 20-30 years, the technique used in cholesteatoma surgery is not clear. The aim of this study is to present and to discuss the results of open cavity (canal wall down - CWD) tympanoplasty. 160 cases (male 46.3%, female 53,7%) underwent a CWD tympanoplasty operation between October 1993 and September 1997. Their average age was 26.5 (range 8~68) years and 18.8% of the cases were under 16 years old. Averages follow up period was 18 (between 3-43) month. Columella reconstruction was performed in 107 cases (66.9%). The anatomical results are as follows: graft uptake was 66.2%, graft perforation was 19.4%, and graft retraction was 14.4%. The cavity was epithelialized in 84.4% of cases on the 3rd month control examination. However there was granulation in the cavity in 25 cases (15,6%) and they became epithelialized at the end of the 6th month employing regular aural toilet as aspiration and topical antibiotic drugs. According to 500-2000 Hz pure tone hearing average of the 107 cases, while 11 cases (10.3%) were under 30 dB preoperatively, 29 cases (27.1%) were found to be under 30 dB. postoperatively. Postoperative air-bone gap was achieved under 30 dB in 85 cases (79.4%).