Cautery of the tympanic membrane:  the lesser known history of myringoplasty.
OBJECTIVE
To present the fascinating, controversial, and tumultuous history of tympanic cautery as a form of myringoplasty and describe the relevance of work more than 150 years old to modern practice and research.


METHODS
More than 70 English, French, and German articles and books published over the last 400 years, which refer to some aspect of tympanic membrane cautery.


METHODS
The first recorded use of silver nitrate to stimulate closure of tympanic membrane perforations is by William Wilde in 1848. Since then, numerous modifications of this technique have been used, and its significance has waxed and waned in response to events within the speciality of otology and the wider world.


CONCLUSIONS
There are lessons to be learned from the rise and fall of this once widely practiced technique. There exists a school of thought that believes that the significance of cautery lies not only in the history of otology but also in its future.
Department of Otolaryngology, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK. matthewrbfarr@googlemail.com
Matthew R B
MR
Farr
Ranit
R
De
Richard M
RM
Irving
D002424:Caustics; D002425:Cautery / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D009225:Myringoplasty / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods*; D010036:Otolaryngology / Q000266:history*; D012835:Silver Nitrate; D016038:Skin Transplantation / Q000266:history; D014432:Tympanic Membrane / Q000601:surgery*
D002424:Caustics; D012835:Silver Nitrate