Hearing levels of young patients 10 years after mastoidectomy.

In several reports, the functional results of mastoid surgery in children have been stated to be disappointing. In this study, a series of 49 child patients who underwent mastoid surgery for chronic suppurative otitis media were examined 10 years postoperatively. At surgery, a cholesteatoma was detected in 49% of the patients. During the observation period, 33% of the patients were subjected to a second operation. At the last follow-up examination, 57% of the operated ears showed hearing levels of 20 dB or better, but in 16% hearing levels were worse than 40 dB. In 16% of the patients, contralateral disease had required surgical treatment and in only 39% of the patients, contralateral ear was found to be normal in otoscopy. Still, at the last follow-up examination, 90% of the better hearing ears had hearing levels of 20 dB or better and only one patient had hearing levels worse than 30 dB in both ears. Compared with an age-and sex-matched control group, hearing levels of the patients were significantly worse but the difference in the mean hearing levels of the better hearing ears was as little as 5 dB. Thus, 10 years after mastoidectomy, hearing levels of child patients were found to be better than expected.