Pediatric cartilage interleave tympanoplasty.
OBJECTIVE
To describe a novel technique of cartilage tympanoplasty, and review surgical and hearing results in children.


METHODS
Retrospective chart review of all patients who had undergone tympanoplasty at a pediatric tertiary care hospital from August 2002 to July 2005. Forty-two patients were identified with a minimum follow-up time of 12 months.


RESULTS
Mean preoperative perforation size was 21.3 percent (range 10%-90%), and mean patient age was 7.9 years (range 3-16 years). Median clinical follow-up was 24 months. Tympanic membrane closure and graft integration were achieved in 40 of 42 patients (95.2%), and 35 of 42 (85.7%) patients maintained an intact, stable tympanic membrane on long-term follow-up. A total of 93.8 percent of patients achieved a postoperative air-bone gap of less than or equal to 20 dB, and mean improvement in the air-bone gap was 10.7 dB.


CONCLUSIONS
Cartilage interleave tympanoplasty is a versatile, stable, and effective technique for tympanic membrane repair in children.
Gaslin
Michael
M
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA.
O'Reilly
Robert C
RC
Morlet
Thierry
T
McCormick
Michael
M
D000293:Adolescent; D001299:Audiometry; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004425:Ear Cartilage / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D018058:Tympanic Membrane Perforation / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D014433:Tympanoplasty / Q000379:methods*