Introduction  The use of endoscope is rapidly increasing in otological and neuro-otological surgery in the last 2 decades. Middle ear surgeries, including tympanoplasty, have increasingly utilized endoscopes as an adjunct to or as a replacement for the operative microscope. Superior visualization and transcanal access to diseases normally managed with a transmastoid approach are touted as advantages with the endoscope. Objectives  The present study aimed to compare the outcomes of endoscopic and microscopic cartilage tympanoplasty (Type I) Methods  This was a retrospective comparative study of 70 patients (25 males and 45 females) who underwent type I tympanoplasty between March 2015 and April 2016. The subjects were classified into 2 groups: endoscopic tympanoplasty (ET, n  = 35), and microscopic tympanoplasty (MT, n  = 35). Tragal cartilage was used as a graft and technique used was cartilage shield tympanoplasty in both groups. Demographic data, perforation size of the tympanic membrane at the preoperative state, operation time, hearing outcome, and graft success rate were evaluated. Results  The epidemiological profiles, the preoperative hearing status, and the perforation size were similar in both groups. The mean operation time of the MT group (52.63 ± 8.68 minutes) was longer than that of the ET group (48.20 ± 10.37 minutes), but the difference was not statistically significant. The graft success rates 12 weeks postoperatively were 91.42% both in the ET and MT groups, that is, 32/35; and these values were not statistically significantly different. There was a statistically significant improvement in hearing within the groups, both pre- and postoperatively, but there was no difference between the groups. Conclusion  Endoscopic tympanoplasty is a minimally invasive surgery with similar graft success rate, comparable hearing outcomes and shorter operative time period as compared to microscopic use.

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Introduction  Middle ear surgeries, including myringoplasty, have increasingly utilized endoscopes as an adjunct to or as a replacement for the operative microscope. Objectives  The objective of the present study was to evaluate the graft uptake rate and to evaluate the hearing results. Methods  This is a prospective study. We have analyzed 139 patients who underwent surgery for chronic otitis media (COM) of the mucosal type. All of the surgeries were performed exclusively under total endoscopic transcanal approach using tragal cartilage as graft, underlay technique. We have evaluated the postoperative graft uptake and performed a hearing evaluation at 6 weeks, at 12 weeks, and at 6 months. Results  During the study period, 139 patients were included, out of which 13 were lost to follow-up; therefore, only 126 patients were assessed. All of the cases were performed under total endoscopic approach. As for the surgical outcome at the postoperative otoscopy, 3 cases had initial uptake at 3 months and failed later; therefore, complete closure of the perforation was observed in 97.6% ( n  = 123) of the patients 6 months after the intervention. Four patients presented with preoperative anacusis; therefore, only 122 patients were included for hearing evaluation. The preoperative air conduction threshold (ACT) and airbone gap (ABG) were 43.34 ± 11.53 and 24.73 ± 7.89, respectively. Postoperatively, the ACT and ABG closure were 28.73 ± 15.75 and 11.91 ± 8.41, respectively. This difference was statistically significant ( p  < 0.001). Conclusion  The endoscopic approach for myringoplasty offers excellent visualization; avoids postaural approach, enables a faster recovery, requires less hospital stay, with excellent graft closure rate and improved functional outcomes.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/njenthns.v3i2.10151 Nepalese Journal of Head and Neck Surgery Vol.3(2) 2012: 2-4