Acquired Atresia of the External Auditory Canal

Treatment of Postinflammatory Acquired Atresia of the External Auditory Canal

“…This per se indicates exploratory surgery -in the presence of atresia the only possibility of disclosing minor cholesteatomas. Marlowe (1972) too found a cholesteatoma in his case. Considering that several years previously a large perforation of the drum and chronic otitis media had been diagnosed in most of the patients, the occurrence of cholesteatomas behind the atresia is not sur prising.…”

“…The functional result was most favourable in cases with atresia of minor thickness. Early operation is recommended, especially as cholesteatoma was found behind the atresia in 2 patients.In a previous study {Bonding and Tos, 1975), analysing 17 cases, we tried to describe the pathology, aetiology, and pathogenesis of this rare atresia which has been reported in only a few cases (Novick, 1939;Work, 1950;Gundersen, 1960;Eichel and Simonton, 1965;Marlowe, 1972). In most cases we found the solid, fibrous atresia, the auditory canal ending in a cul-de-sac 7-25 mm laterally to the drum.…”

“…Gundersen (1960) treated his 3 cases of acquired atresia by modified radical operation. Eichel and Simonton (1965) and Marlowe (1972) covered the auditory canal with skin after excising the atresia and widening the canal by drilling.…”

Chronic stenosing external otitis/postinflammatory acquired atresia: a review

“…Early authors went to great lengths to stent the newly created canal open. Beales 27 and Marlowe 28 both describe moulds that fitted snugly into the canal and were left in place for several weeks. More recently Soliman describes using a piece of rubber tubing which is stitched into place for 6 weeks.…”

Acquired external auditory canal stenosis: assessment and management

“…1). Despite its clinical simplicity, this entity has been referred to by several different terms including medial meatal fibrosis [2], EAC atresia [1,[3][4][5][6][7][8][9], and medial canal or EAC stenosis [10].…”