Long-term result of meatoplasty using inferiorly based retroauricular island pedicle flap for external auditory canal stenosis.

OBJECTIVE

To characterize the long-term outcomes of meatoplasty using our new technique, inferiorly based retroauricular island pedicle flap for external auditory canal (EAC) stenosis.

METHODS

A long-term clinical analysis of meatoplasty for nine patients (mean age, 33 years; age range, 8-64 years) with stenotic EAC was performed. The follow-up period after meatoplasty ranged from 5 years to 14 years, with a mean duration of 8.4 years. We compared preoperative and postoperative otoscopic findings, high-resolution computed tomographic (CT) images of the EAC, and hearing levels.

RESULTS

Otoscopic examinations demonstrated widened EAC in eight of the nine patients. There was a significant increase in the size of the EAC on postoperative CT examinations when compared with the preoperative state. The hearing outcome in all patients was variable. The postoperative air-bone gap (ABG) was closed to 10dB or less in two cases, while the other seven cases showed ABG ranging from 15.0dB to 57.5dB.

CONCLUSIONS

We performed meatoplasty using inferiorly based retroauricular island pedicle flap for nine patients with EAC stenosis and eight of the nine patients demonstrated satisfactory patent EAC during a mean follow-up of 8.4 years.