Healing acceleration of mastoidectomy through the external auditory canal incisionless approach.

PURPOSE: To evaluate a surgical procedure of canal wall-up mastoidectomy without incision of the canal which enables accelerated healing and enhances hearing outcome.

METHODS

A total of 79 patients were enrolled. A canal-incisionless technique was used in 37 patients undergoing canal wall-up/down mastoidectomy (CWU/DM), explo-mastoidectomy, and cochlea implantation as staged operation after obliteration of the mastoid, and canal incision was used in the remaining 42 patients as comparison group.

RESULTS

Preoperative and postoperative pure tone audiometry/word recognition score and postoperative status including the healing time and complications were analyzed. Healing time of the canal-incisionless procedure (2.7 weeks) was shorter than that of conventional mastoidectomy with canal incision (5.7 weeks). Complication rate of the canal-incisionless procedure was lower than that of canal incision approach, even though statistical meaningless.

CONCLUSION

Despite the small sample size of our study, in patients undergoing CWDM, explo-mastoidectomy, and cochlea implantation, more acceptable healing was achieved using the canal-incisionless technique than with the canal incision technique. CWU/DM without canal incision is useful to achieve optimal surgical view, eliminate pathology of the middle ear, and accelerate healing time.