title: Complications associated with the surgical treatment of cholesteatoma.
abstract: The surgical complications associated with a cholesteatoma are predictable preoperatively depending upon the location of a cholesteatoma. If the patient has as attic cholesteatoma the surgeon can anticipate postoperatively a dry ear, minimal chance of persistent or recurrent cholesteatoma, satisfactory hearing restoration, and, although a mastoidectomy is usually necessary, the size of the mastoid cavity in an adult can be extremely small. If a patient has a middle ear cholesteatoma the surgeon can anticipate postoperatively a relatively high incidence of moist ears, persistent or recurrent cholesteatoma, and an unsatisfactory hearing result. However, seldom will the creation of a mastoid cavity be necessary as rarely will mastoidectomy be required. Although most of the children before puberty in the study had middle ear cholesteatomas, all children--regardless of the location of cholesteatoma--had a higher incidence of surgical failure than did the adults.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001847:Bone Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D002648:Child; D002781:Cholesteatoma / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D004427:Ear Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D004432:Ear, Middle / Q000601:surgery*; D006314:Hearing Loss, Conductive / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008416:Mastoid / Q000601:surgery*; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000601:surgery; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D012008:Recurrence