HYALURONIC-ACID IN MIDDLE-EAR SURGERY

The efficacy of hyaluronic acid when utilized in tympanoplasty was inv estigated in a multicenter, randomized, prospective patient blinded st udy. Of the 117 patients who completed the study, a majority (76) were treated with myringoplasty, 26 with myringoplasty combined with ossic uloplasty, and 15 with ossiculoplasty alone. The patients were evaluat ed by the operating surgeon up to 3 months following surgery, when the final assessment was made. The patients were divided into three group s: group 1 was treated with hyaluronic acid, 1 percent; group 2 with h yaluronic acid, 1.9 percent; and group 3 constituted the control where no hyaluronic acid was used at all. In the two test groups, utilizing hyaluronic acid, no gelatinous sponge was allowed to be left in the m iddle ear after surgery, whereas the control group was operated accord ing to standard principles. The three groups were compared after the t ermination of the study as regards quality of healing and their hearin g results. It could be concluded that the healing process within the m iddle ear and the tympanic membrane, as well as the hearing ability, w as similar in all three groups. Thus no statistically significant diff erences could be obtained between the patient groups in which hyaluron ic acid had been utilized in any concentration and the control group o perated according to standard routine. This finding does not exclude, however, that hyaluronic acid might have a place in tympanoplastic sur gery of today, since the long-term results were not evaluated here.