Therapeutic outcomes of canal wall up mastoidectomy in combination with Type I tympanoplasty in otitis media

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the therapeutic effects in terms of disease clearance and hearing improvement of canal wall up mastoidectomy in combination with Type I tympanoplasty in otitis media. METHODS A total of 78 patients (81 ears) with otitis media were treated by canal wall up mastoidectomy in combination with Type I tympanoplasty. The postoperative tympanic membrane morphology, average of pure-tone hearing thresholds and average air-bone gap were used as the indices for evaluating therapeutic effects. RESULTS The patients were followed up for two years in average. All the tympanic membranes recovered, with the ear canals being dry. There were five cases (5 ears) of tympanic membrane retraction and one case of otitis media recurrence. Hearing was effectively recovered by 76.54% (62/81) after surgery. CONCLUSION Combining canal wall up mastoidectomy with Type I tympanoplasty can treat otitis media safely and effectively due to high postoperative dry ear canal rate, satisfactory reconstruction of hearing and maintenance of ear morphology.