Cartilage reinforcement tympanoplasty: otological and audiological results.

High risk perforations including total, subtotal, atelectatic perforations, those with cholesteatoma and revision cases can be treated efficiently with cartilage reinforcement tympanoplasty.The purpose of this study was to describe the perforation closure rates and hearing results of cartilage reinforcement tympanoplasty.This was a retrospective chart review and included 60 patients who underwent surgery with the cartilage reinforcement technique between November 2006 and October 2008 at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology of Haydarpasa Numune Research and Training Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey. The male to female ratio was 28 (46.7%)/32 (53.3%). The mean age of the patients was 30.10 +/- 11.50 years (range 13-55).Preoperatively, only one patient had a retraction pocket but not a perforation, 12 (20%) patients had perforation of < 25% of the total tympanic membrane diameter, 12 patients had perforation between 25% and 50% of the total membrane diameter, 18 patients had a perforation between 50% and 75% of total membrane diameter and 17 patients had a perforation of > 75% of the total membrane diameter. Postoperatively we achieved total closure of tympanic membrane perforations for 47 patients but the perforations of 13 patients remained in various sizes (7 patients had tympanic membrane perforation < 25% of the total membrane diameter, 3 between 25% and 50%, 2 between 50% and 75% and 1 patient had a perforation > 75% of the total membrane diameter). There was a statistically significant difference between percentages of preoperative perforation and postoperative perforations (p = 0.001). Only 1.7% of patients had no perforation preoperatively and this ratio increased to 78.3% postoperatively. Also, 30% of patients had a perforation between 50% and 75% of the total membrane diameter, 28.3% of the patients had a perforation > 75% of the total membrane diameter preoperatively and this ratio decreased to 3.3% and 1.7%, respectively. Concerning the audiological parameters, the difference between preoperative and postoperative hearing levels was statistically significant (p = 0.001).