title: Mastoidectomy in the elderly.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To present conditions requiring mastoid surgery in elderly patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-seven patients (aged 65-90 years) who underwent mastoidectomy were enrolled. The etiologies included chronic otitis media (COM) with (n = 16) or without (n = 5) cholesteatoma, otogenic meningitis and malignant otitis externa (MOE; n = 3 each). Urgent mastoidectomy was indicated for 4 intracranial complications (3 meningitis and 1 brain abscess) and 14 extracranial complications of acute/COM or MOE (7 patients with labyrinthitis and 7 patients with facial nerve, FN, paralysis). There was only partial improvement in FN function in only 1 of 7 patients with FN paralysis. Two patients lost their hearing as a result of a surgical intervention for cholesteatoma. One patient was reoperated for recurrent cholesteatoma 15 months after the initial mastoid surgery. Chronic otorrhea complicated the postoperative course in 2 patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mastoidectomy for geriatric patients is mostly urgent surgery for complications of acute/COM or MOE.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel. migirovl@gmail.com
authors.forename: Lela
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Migirov
authors.forename: Sergei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Weissburd
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wolf
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018424:Cholesteatoma, Middle Ear / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008416:Mastoid / Q000601:surgery*; D008581:Meningitis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D013506:Otologic Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D012086:Reoperation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome