Abstract
Objective: 1) Measure the overall postoperative hearing after both canal wall down mastoidectomy and cartilage tympanoplasty. 2) Assess the air-bone gap postoperatively in patients after both canal wall down mastoidectomy and cartilage tympanoplasty.
Method: A retrospective review of all patients who underwent canal wall down mastoidectomy with a cartilage tympanoplasty during the time period of 2000 to 2010. Cases of the appropriate surgery were chosen by operative reports. Indications for surgery largely included cholesteatoma, chronic otitis media, or both.
Results: A total of 39 patients were found to have the procedure in question with 30 patients having full audiograms for review. Pre- and postoperative pure tone averages (PTA) along with air-bone gaps (ABG) were reviewed at 500 Hz, 1,000 Hz, 2,000 Hz, and 4,000 Hz. Postoperative PTA showed an improvement of 7.2 dB over preoperative PTA. Postoperative ABG showed an improvement of 4.53 dB over preoperative ABG. The ABG improvement was found to be statistically significant with a P value of .0285.
Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that hearing results following a canal wall down mastoidectomy along with a cartilage tympanoplasty not only have acceptable hearing results but also actually show an improvement over preoperative audiological function.
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