Comparison of Surgical Outcome of Endoscopic with Microscopic Type I Tympanoplasty in Chronic Otitis Media: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Aim of the study was to compare the surgical outcome of endoscopic with microscopic Type 1 tympanoplasty in dry, mucosal type of chronic otitis media with respect to graft uptake rate, hearing gain and duration of surgery. This randomized controlled trial of 3 years was carried out at Tertiary Care Hospital of Central India. Total 80 cases of mucosal type of chronic otitis media posted for Type I tympanoplasty were included in the study. They were randomly divided into two groups viz. Endoscopic tympanoplasty and microscopic tympanoplasty with 40 patients in each group. Chi-square test was used to compare the qualitative results and student's t-test was used to compare quantitative results with a level of significance of p B 0.05. Intraoperatively, widening of external auditory canal and auxiliary incision were required in 45% and 47.5% patients of microscopic group respectively. Mean operative time for endoscopic tympanoplasty (62.5 ±14.94 mins) was less as compared to microscopic tympanoplasty (74.88 ± 15.83 mins). Graft uptake rate was 95% and 92.5% in endoscopic and microscopic tympanoplasty groups respectively with statistically insignificant difference (p = 0.32). The preoperative mean air bone gap in both the groups was improved significantly 6 months postoperatively. Air bone gap closure was of 13.21± 4.37 dB in endoscopic group and 12.54 ± 4.14 dB in microscopic group with statistically insignificant difference. Endoscope provides superior visualization of hidden areas of middle ear cavity and has shorter operative time than microscopic tympanoplasty with comparable surgical and functional outcomes. hence endoscopic tympanoplasty can be a good option to microscopic surgery.