[Three-stage surgery of combining auricle reconstruction, meatoplasty and tympanoplasty for patients with congenital microtia-atresia].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the validity and feasibility of consecutive three-stage surgical technique of combining auricle reconstruction with external auditory canal atresia reconstruction in patients with congenital microtia-atresia, and to assess the post-surgery results by cosmetic and hearing aspects.


METHODS
From Sep. 2007 to Jun. 2011, all 74 patients (79 ears) with congenital microtia-atresia treated in our department were enrolled in this study. They consecutively accepted the following three-stage surgical technique: The first stage was Brent' s technique as follows, rib cartilage graft harvest, framework fabrication, and implantation. The second stage combined transfer of the lobule with meatoplasty and tympanoplasty. The third stage was the elevation of the reconstructed auricle. Both the cosmetic and functional hearing results were recorded at follow-ups.


RESULTS
Among these patients, 60 patients (78.5%), 62 ears, acquired extremely satisfactory cosmetic results; 10 patients (16.5%), 13 ears, acquired acceptable cosmetic results; while the remaining 4 patients (5.1%) acquired unsatisfactory cosmetic results. However, the height of elevation of the newly performed auricle framework was not enough due to the existence of newly formed external ear canal. Regarding the hearing results, there were 69 ears with followup audiograms. An air-bone gap (ABG) improvement of 12.5 dB was achieved. The air-conduction hearing threshold improved (10.9 ± 8.2) dBHL, 37 ears (53.6%) achieved serviceable hearing after surgery, with ABG less than 30 dB. There were multiple complications occurred after surgery with the incidence of 49.4% (39/79).


CONCLUSIONS
The combined three-stage surgical microtia and canal atresia reconstruction technique is a viable choice for some suitable patients with microtia-atresia. However, the incidence of complication after meatoplasty is very high and the hearing restoration is not good enough, which need further investigation for the better results.
Zhang
Z
Lichun
Chen
C
Ying
Zhang
Z
Tianyu
D000368:Aged; D065817:Congenital Microtia / Q000601:surgery*; D004423:Ear / Q000601:surgery*; D054644:Ear Auricle; D004424:Ear Canal; D006309:Hearing; D006320:Hearing Tests; D006801:Humans; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures; D014433:Tympanoplasty