Incidence of dehiscence of the facial nerve at surgery for middle ear cholesteatoma.
OBJECTIVE
To identify the incidence of dehiscence of the facial nerve in patients undergoing surgery for cholesteatoma and to describe its relevance with iatrogenic facial nerve injury.


METHODS
This was a retrospective study including 117 tympanoplasties with or without mastoidectomy performed in 49 men and 66 women.


RESULTS
The presences of FND after exenteration of disease are 33.3% of total surgical procedures, 33% of the initial procedures, and 37.5% of the revision procedures. The locations of facial nerve dehiscence were 87.2% in only the tympanic segment, 7.7% in only the vertical segment, and 5.1% in both the tympanic and vertical segments.


CONCLUSIONS
The incidence of facial nerve dehiscence is high (33.3%) in our study. The surgeon should keep in mind that the location of facial nerve dehiscence with cholesteatoma is comparable with the most common area of iatrogenic facial nerve injury during otologic surgery.
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
Jen-Chih
JC
Lin
Kuen-Yao
KY
Ho
Wen-Rei
WR
Kuo
Ling-Feng
LF
Wang
Chee-Yin
CY
Chai
Shih-Meng
SM
Tsai
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018424:Cholesteatoma, Middle Ear / Q000601:surgery*; D020220:Facial Nerve Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007049:Iatrogenic Disease; D008297:Male; D008416:Mastoid / Q000601:surgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D012086:Reoperation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014433:Tympanoplasty