Recurrence of attic cholesteatoma: Different methods of estimating recurrence rates

One problem in cholesteatoma surgery is recurrence of cholesteatoma, which is reported to vary from 5% to 71%. This great variability can be explained by issues such as the type of cholesteatoma, surgical technique, follow-up rate, length of the postoperative observation period, and statistical meth od applied. The aim of this study was to illustrate the impact of applying different statistical methods to the same material. Thirty-three children u nderwent single-stage surgery for attic cholesteatoma during a 15-year peri od. Thirty patients (94%) attended a re-evaluation. During the observation period of 15 years, recurrence of cholesteatoma occurred in 10 ears. The cu mulative total recurrence rate varied from 30% to 67%, depending on the sta tistical method applied. In conclusion, the choice of statistical method sh ould depend on the number of patients, follow-up rates, length of the posto perative observation period and presence of censored data.