Late Results in Tympanoplasty

Abstract

There have been numerous descriptions of tympanoplasty methods and several reports of primary results,^1-6 but as yet there has been a surprising paucity of detailed studies of late results.^7-12 Perhaps the explanation is that the methods and the grafts used have changed in the course of the rapid development of the tympanoplasty procedure. Skin grafts were replaced by fascia, polyethylene, and steel prostheses by bone, cartilage, auto- or homografts of ossicles. At first, the cavity was kept open, but more recently a closed technique has been used, wherein the cavity has been obliterated or the meatal wall preserved without obliteration. This constant endeavor to develop better and newer methods is possibly one of the reasons why less interest has been manifest in the late results of tympanoplasty than in those of other operations within otorhinolaryngology. The purpose of this report is to present the late results of tympanoplasty