E. Vartiainen et al., LONG-TERM POSTOPERATIVE FOLLOW-UP OF PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC OTITIS-MEDIA - DOES IT MAKE SENSE, Clinical otolaryngology and allied sciences, 20(4), 1995, pp. 352-354
Complications ('events') encountered during long-term post-operative f
ollow-up (on average, 6.5 years) of 493 patients undergoing surgery fo
r chronic otitis media or its sequelae were evaluated. After the immed
iate post-operative period (of 30 days), in 44% of the patients at lea
st one event was detected, infection being the most common, followed b
y graft failure, hearing impairment and recurrence of cholesteatoma. I
t was concluded that post-operative follow-up is necessary in all pati
ents with chronic otitis media. The suitable length of follow-up was e
stimated to be 8 years for patients with cholesteatoma, 7 years for pa
tients with granulating otitis media and 5 years for patients operated
on for the sequelae of otitis.