title: Cholesteatoma in children: techniques and results.
abstract: A retrospective analysis of the medical records of all cases of cholesteatoma in children treated between 1981 and 1996 was performed. The charts of 59 children with cholesteatoma were reviewed. A total of 62 ears received surgery over 15 years. The median follow-up period was 5 years. There were 132 operations. An intact canal wall (ICW) procedure was performed in 29% of the ears in the first stage, a canal wall down (CWD) procedure in 37%, a transmeatal atticotomy (TA) in 21%, a tympanoplasty (T) in 6.5% and a myringoplasty (M) in 6.5% of the ears. The ICW procedure had a higher rate of residual/recurrent cholesteatoma than did CWD (P=0.8), TA (P=0.4), T (P=0.5), and M (P=0.05). The CWD procedure had a lower rate than TA (P=0.7), but a higher rate than T (P=0.6) and M (P=0.09). Lastly, TA had a higher rate than T (P=0.7) and M (P=0.1). Auditory results were similar for type II and type III reconstructions (P=0.5). An air-bone gap of less than 20 dB was achieved in 51% of the ears, and 80% had a gap of less than 40 dB. We found a clear difference, although not statistically significant, in the personal rate of recurrent cholesteatoma. It was 26% for surgeons who had performed more than 350 otological surgeries and fell to 15% for the most-experienced surgeon (1715 operations). It rose to 34% for the less experienced surgeons (P=0.8). We recommend that surgery for children with cholesteatoma be reserved for experienced surgeons.
authors.affiliation: ENT and HNS Department, University Hospital CHUV, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Soldati
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mudry
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018424:Cholesteatoma, Middle Ear / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006309:Hearing; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D012008:Recurrence; D012086:Reoperation; D012189:Retrospective Studies