MYRINGOPLASTY IN CHILDREN - FACTORS INFLUENCING SURGICAL OUTCOME

Age, size, and site of perforation, condition of the ear, status of th e contralateral ear, grafting materials, and more are considered facto rs influencing the success rates in myringoplasties in children. The a mbivalence in results is mainly due to nonhomogeneous patient groups, In an effort to compose groups as homogeneous as possible for analysis of influencing factors, a retrospective study of 51 pediatric myringo plasty cases (51 ears) was undertaken. All patients had perforations c aused by simple chronic otitis media. The overall surgical success rat e was 82.3% at 18 months, and for young (5 to 10 years) and older (11 to 16 years) children it was 77.2% and 86.2%, respectively, Anterior, central, and total perforations healed without significant differences . Outcome in unilateral perforations was better than bilateral: 96.9% and 55%, respectively (p < 0.01). Discharging ears (100%) healed bette r compared with dry ears (75%) (p < 0.05), Analysis of the literature also revealed significant difference in success rates of discharging a nd dry ears: 92.5% and 80.6%, respectively (p < 0.01), We conclude tha t, contrary to comments in the literature, discharging ears in childre n favor good outcome and they should be operated on regardless of age and site of perforation. However, in bilateral perforations results ma y not be so rewarding.