Endoscopic ear surgery: then and now, review article

Abstract

Objective Endoscopic ear surgery (EES) is a growing and well-recognized field in the modern era. EES had a stepwise journey of development. This journey is pretty comparable to the endoscopic sinus surgery development. Methods Online literature search was performed to give a concise review on the development and recent applications of EES and in addition to clarify the reported advantages and disadvantages of EES. Results EES has a more recent application than ESS that started decades after endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS). The use of endoscope in ear surgery gives a wide-angled detailed view of the middle ear structures. It gives the ability to look around the corners offering less disease persistence than the microscopic approaches. EES is useful in cases of narrow and angled external auditory canal as it bypasses the narrowest segment of EAC. However, it lacks the 3D perception and enables one hand surgery which could be difficult to manage bleeding. Applications of EES extended from tympanoplasty, stapedotomy, cholesteatoma surgery, and middle ear ventilation in chronic inflammatory conditions to the neurotologic applications in lateral skull base surgery. Conclusion EES is an extremely growing field with many applications in otology and neurotology. The advantages of endoscopic applications outweigh the disadvantages. It has a stepwise learning curve and offer better teaching ability.