Endoscopic management of middle ear atelectasis

Abstract

Objective To assess the efficacy of otoendoscopy in the surgical management of atelectatic ear to improve the clinical and the audiological outcomes. Patients and methods A total of 38 ears in 24 patients with middle ear atelectasis and intact ossicular chain were randomly assigned into two groups: group I (27 ears) underwent endoscopic T-tube insertion and group II (11 ears) underwent endoscopic cartilage tympanoplasty. Assessment of hearing was performed for all cases preoperatively and 3 months postoperatively. Results There is a significant postoperative improvement of air-bone gap averages reported in the two studied groups, with mean hearing gain of 21.67±7.97 dB in group I and 19.72±5.3 dB in group II. Conclusions At 3 months postoperatively, there was a significant statistical difference concerning different audiological parameters among the two groups.

Keywords

• cartilage tympanoplasty
• endoscopic ear surgery
• middle ear atelectasis