Comparison of Endoscopic and Microscopic Tympanoplasty

Rezende, Rodrigo1; Hamerschmidt, Rogério2; Santos, Vanessa3
1 Post Graduation Program in Surgery, Hospital de Clínicas, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil . Department of Otology, IPO Hospital, Curitiba, Brazil
2 Department of Ophthalmology – Otorhinolaryngology and Post Graduation Program in Surgery, Hospital de Clínicas, Federal University of Paraná, Brazil. Department of Otology, IPO Hospital, Curitiba, Brazil
3 Department of Otology, IPO Hospital, Curitiba, Brazil.

Simple chronic otitis media is characterized by the presence of perforation on the tympanic membrane. For its correction, it is recommended to perform tympanoplasty type 1, which can be perfomed with microscope or endoscope, as a tool to visualize the surgical site. The aim of this study is to compare the anatomical and functional results of both techniques. We evaluated the results of 86 type 1 tympanoplasties, grouping 40 surgeries done by microscopic retroauricular access and 46 endoscopic transcanal approach. We compared the results regarding variables of surgical time, postoperative pain, tympanic perforation closure rate after surgery, as well as the audiometric results obtained after. Using t Student test or the Mann-Whitney non-parametric test for quantitative variables and Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables, we observed that there was no statistical difference in functional outcomes between the two approaches, but less occurrence of postoperative pain reported by the patients and shorter surgical time in the endoscopic group. We conclude that both techniques are safe and effective for the correction of tympanic membrane perforations, with a few advantages noted in the endoscopic approach.