Postauricular undersurface tympanic membrane grafting: a follow-up report

Abstract

The authors review 1,939 chronic ear surgeries in which 1,556 underwent some form of tympanic membrane grafting. The overall take rate was 93%. There was no selection of cases with regard to presence of infection, cholesteatoma, polyps, or granulation tissue at the time of surgery. There appeared to be no difference in the take rate based upon age of the patient, presence of infection, or cholesteatoma. Autogenous and homograft fascia performed well and there was no significant difference in take rate. Complications were minimal and were related more to the disease process than the grafting technique per se. In addition to reviewing the long-term follow-up of the original technique the authors present a method of dealing with tympanic membrane retraction pockets. Called a cartilage tympanoplasty this procedure incorporates a large piece of full thickness tragal cartilage with attached perichondrium into the substance of the tympanic membrane. With 2 years follow-up at this writing, this procedure has markedly reduced postoperative retraction pockets and recurrent cholesteatoma.