Does ear endoscopy provide advantages in the outpatient management of open mastoidectomy cavities?

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the use of ear endoscopy in the postoperative management of open mastoidectomy cavities, and to test whether ear endoscopy improves inspection and cleaning compared with ear microscopy. METHODS Prospective study. Thirty-two ears were divided into two groups: group 1, examination and cleaning of mastoid cavities under endoscopic visualization after microscopic standard ear cleaning; group 2, examination and cleaning of mastoid cavities under microscopic visualization after endoscope-assisted ear cleaning. We assessed the ability of each method to provide exposure and facilitate cleaning, comparing the benefits of microscopy and endoscopy when used sequentially and vice-versa. RESULTS Endoscopy provided additional benefits for exposure in 61.1% of cases and cleaning in 66.7%. Microscopy provided no additional benefits in terms of exposure in any case, and provided added benefit for cleaning in only 21.4% of cases. DISCUSSION For outpatient postoperative care of open mastoidectomy cavities, ear endoscopy provides greater benefit over ear microscopy than vice-versa. In over half of all cases, endoscopy was able to expose areas not visualized under the microscope. Furthermore, in two-thirds of cases, endoscopy enabled removal of material that could not be cleared under microscopy. Ear endoscopy was superior to microscopy in terms of enabling exposure and cleaning of hard-to-reach sites, due to its wider field of vision. CONCLUSION Ear endoscopy is a feasible technique for the postoperative management of open mastoidectomy cavities. Ear endoscopy provided superior advantages in terms of exposure and aural cleaning compared with microscopy.