Cholesteatoma: Influence of surgical technique and EAONO/JOS stage on audiological results

Abstract

Introduction and objectiveThe treatment of cholesteatoma is surgical in most cases. When it is indicated, it is preferable to choose a reconstructive surgical technique with the dual purpose of eradicating the disease and preserving or improving the patient’s hearing. In 2017, the European Academy of Otology and Neuro-Otology/Japanese Otological Society (EAONO/JOS) published a new cholesteatoma classification. The aims of this study were to determine the influence of the surgical technique used and this classification on patient’s hearing outcomes. MethodsA retrospective study that included patients who underwent reconstructive surgery of cholesteatoma between 2012 and 2017 was carried out. Based on pre-surgical computed tomography (CT) images, disease was staged according to the EAONO/JOS classification. Hearing outcomes obtained by pre and postoperative pure tone audiometry were analysed according to the surgical technique used and according to the stage of the disease. Results143 patients with no statistically significant differences in hearing thresholds before surgery were included. One year after surgery, all the patients’ (P = .01 and P = .001) airpure tone average (PTA) and mean differential auditory threshold had improved significantly. Those patients who underwent tympanoplasty with two-stage canal wall up mastoidectomy presented better postsurgical air PTA and postsurgical mean differential auditory threshold outcomes (P = .007 and P = .014) than those patients who underwent tympanoplasty with canal wall down mastoidectomy. Moreover, the patients who underwent tympanoplasty with two-stage canal wall up mastoidectomy had improved air PTA and mean differential auditory threshold one year after the surgery with statistical significance (P = .001, P = .013). The mean differential auditory threshold was also better (P = .008) in the patients who underwent tympanoplasty with canal wall down mastoidectomy one year after the procedure. ConclusionsReconstructive surgical techniques improve hearing one year after surgery. In our study, this improvement was significantly greater with tympanoplasty with two-stage canal wall up mastoidectomy.