Long-Term Hearing Results After Ossiculoplasty.

OBJECTIVES

To determine if the OOPS index is predictive of long-term hearing results after ossiculoplasty.

STUDY

DESIGN

Case series with retrospective chart review.

SETTING

Tertiary care otology practice.

PATIENTS: Adult and pediatric patients (3-88 years of age).

INTERVENTIONS: Ossiculoplasty with cartilage tympanoplasty, with or without mastoidectomy.

OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary outcome measures included short-term hearing results (pure-tone average air-bone gap [PTA-ABG] measured between 60 days and 1 year after surgery), long-term hearing results (PTA-ABG measured ≥5 years after surgery), and the rate of successful ABG closure to ≤20 dB. Secondary measures included the need for revision surgery, delayed tympanic membrane graft failure, worsening conductive hearing loss (after an initially satisfactory hearing result), and recurrence of cholesteatoma.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference between adults and children for short-term hearing results (average post-op PTA-ABG was 18.9 dB vs. 19.8 dB, respectively; p = 0.544), long-term hearing results (average final PTA-ABG was 19.3 dB vs. 19.4 dB, respectively; p = 0.922), or rate of ABG closure to less than 20 dB (63.1% vs. 58.0%, p = 0.282). Spearman's rank-order correlation (ρ) identified a strong positive correlation between OOPS index score and average post-operative PTA-ABG (ρ = 0.983; p < 0.001; 2-tailed), as well as average long-term PTA-ABG (ρ = 0.950, p < 0.001; 2-tailed).

CONCLUSIONS

The OOPS index makes it possible to accurately prognosticate hearing outcomes in adult and pediatric patients undergoing ossiculoplasty in both the short term and the long term.