Tympanic membrane perforation in children: Endoscopic type I tympanoplasty, a newly technique, is it worthwhile?
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the results of a newly introduced technique to our Department of endoscopic assisted transcanal myringoplasty applied in tympanic membrane perforation in children of any age and compare them to that of the previously standard microscopic assisted myringoplasty technique.


METHODS
A retrospective study of myringoplasties performed between January 2005 and June 2014 in children suffering from chronic otitis media with perforation. In microscope-assisted cases, a transcanal approach was applied when the anterior tympanic annulus was completely visible through the ear speculum, and a postauricular approach was used in all other cases. A transcanal approach was used in all endoscopic-assisted cases.


RESULTS
Between January 2005 and December 2010 and January 2011 and June 2014, 23 and 22 myringoplasties were performed by means of an operative microscope and an endoscope, respectively. Patient age varied from 5 to 16 years. Median duration of microscopic and endoscopic approaches was 90 min and 80 min (P=0.3), respectively. Hospital stay after surgery was significantly longer in the microscope group than the endoscope group (P<0.001). The intact graft success rate was 82.6% in microscopic and 90.9% in endoscopic approaches. Median postoperative air-bone gap of microscopic and endoscopic approaches was 6.2 dB and 6.6 dB, respectively (P=0.9). Neither intra- nor postoperative complications were observed.


CONCLUSIONS
Endoscopic transcanal myringoplasty is an alternative surgical approach to traditional technique. This surgery is more conservative than microscopic approach and can be performed in all pediatric cases independently from age. Moreover, it offers comparable anatomical and functional results to the traditional surgery, and grants better comfort for the child.
Department of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology (N.N., M.B.), Spedali Civili, Brescia, Italy. Electronic address: nadernassif@alice.it.
Nader
N
Nassif
Department of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology (N.N., M.B.), Spedali Civili, Brescia, Italy.
Marco
M
Berlucchi
Department of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology (N.N., M.B.), Spedali Civili, Brescia, Italy; Department of Otorhinolaryngology (L.O.R.Z.), University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.
Luca Oscar
LO
Redaelli de Zinis
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D009225:Myringoplasty / Q000379:methods*; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000601:surgery*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000601:surgery; D011184:Postoperative Period; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014432:Tympanic Membrane / Q000601:surgery*; D018058:Tympanic Membrane Perforation / Q000601:surgery*; D014433:Tympanoplasty / Q000379:methods*
Chronic otitis media; Endoscopy; Myringoplasty; Tympanic membrane perforation