Tympanoplasty: does dry or wet temporalis fascia graft matter?

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the success rate of dry and wet temporalis fascia grafts in type I underlay tympanoplasty.

METHODS

A prospective, randomised study was conducted. One hundred adult patients (males and females) with chronic suppurative otitis media (mucosal type) were divided into 2 groups of 50 each: one group underwent dry graft tympanoplasty and the other underwent wet graft tympanoplasty. Fibroblast count was calculated in dry and wet grafts.

RESULTS

The dry graft and wet graft groups had overall surgical success rates of 82 and 90 per cent, respectively; this finding was not statistically significant. A statistically significant high fibroblast count was observed in wet grafts, but it did not correlate with surgical success.

CONCLUSION

A dry or wet temporalis fascia graft does not influence the outcome of tympanoplasty type I.