A retrospective study on middle ear risk indices in analysing the post-operative outcome following tympanoplasty

Abstract

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Chronic otitis media is a highly prevalent disease of middle ear. As tympanoplasty plays an important role in management of otitis media it is important to predict the outcome of surgery and give proper counselling to the patient. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Middle ear risk index (MERI) in determining postoperative graft uptake and postoperative air bone gap closure following tympanoplasty.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> This was a retrospective study conducted to find the correlation between MERI and the result of tympanoplasty outcome and post-operative hearing gain. Ninety-six subjects who underwent tympanoplasty for chronic otitis media were included in the study. MERI score was calculated and was compared with postoperative graft uptake and audiogram. </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> In this study there was no statistical difference in graft uptake between the MERI categories. There was statistically significant decrease in postoperative air bone gap closure in both mild and moderate categories. Other prognostic factors associated with a favourable outcome were healthy middle ear mucosa and absence of smoking.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> MERI did not have a direct impact on the outcome of surgery in terms of graft uptake and hearing results. However certain factors like Belluci’s criteria and smoking had an impact on the outcome. Hence MERI can be used for pre-operative counselling of the patients.</p>