title: Effect of the thickness of the cartilage disk on the hearing results after perichondrium/cartilage island flap tympanoplasty.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of the thickness of the cartilage disk on the hearing results after perichondrium/cartilage island flap tympanoplasty. Our hypothesis was that thinning the rigid thick cartilage disk to half of its thickness could increase the compliance and give better acoustic gain and hearing results to patients with a reconstructed tympanic membrane.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective before/after clinical trial was conducted between January 2003 and March 2004.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with chronic suppurative otitis media (mucosal type), central perforations and intact ossicular chain were randomly divided into 2 groups: the 1st group was treated with the perichondrium/cartilage island flap technique using the full-thickness cartilage disk, while the 2nd group was treated with the same technique but after bisecting the cartilage to half of its thickness. Hearing was evaluated using a 4-frequency (500, 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 Hz) pure-tone average air-bone gap before and then 8-9 months after tympanoplasty, and the results were compared statistically.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. amratef@dr.com
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Atef
authors.forename: Neseem
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Talaat
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fathi
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mosleh
authors.forename: Sherif
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Safwat
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D002356:Cartilage / Q000637:transplantation*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006314:Hearing Loss, Conductive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010035:Otitis Media, Suppurative / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D011182:Postoperative Care; D011300:Preoperative Care; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013524:Surgical Flaps; D018058:Tympanic Membrane Perforation / Q000453:epidemiology; D014433:Tympanoplasty / Q000379:methods*