A scanning electron-microscopic study of different tympanic grafts.
The surface architecture of dried temporalis fascia autografts and preserved tympanic allografts was investigated by scanning electronmicroscopy. During the storage in formaldehyde-cialit solutions the outer epithelial as well as the inner mucosal layer of tympanic allografts are progressively detached, and finally the lamina propria with outer radial and inner circular fiber arrangement remains. Due to dehydration phenomena irregular "crater-like" defects, surrounded by an amorphous structure, appear in dried fascia autografts. While a real lamina propria graft may induce migration and differentiation of the host's canal wall epithelium into a specific tympanic epithelium, one may imagine epithelial spreading toward the middle ear along the observed defects in dried fascia grafts. This latter observation gives new evidence for the immigration cholesteatoma theory.
ENT Department, UIA, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium.
D
D
Boedts
M
M
De Cock
L
L
Andries
J
J
Marquet
D005205:Fascia / Q000637:transplantation; D006801:Humans; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D014021:Tissue Preservation; D014432:Tympanic Membrane / Q000601:surgery / Q000637:transplantation* / Q000648:ultrastructure