Postoperative Hearing of Tympanoplasty Patients.

Between January 1994 and December 1998, 144 patients with middle ear diseases, including 95 cases of cholesteatoma and 34 cases of middle ear infections, were operated on by tympanoplasty in Mie University Hospital. Success rates of hearing improvement, according to the criteria of Clinical Otology Japan (1987), were 87.8% of type I tympanoplasty patients, 100% of type II, 77.3% of type III, and 72.2% of type IV. There was no difference in the success rate between cholesteatoma patients (81.3%) and chronic otitis media patients (85.0%); however, that of patients with postoperative diseases was relatively low (66.7%, 6 of 9 cases). Auto-cartilage was used as a columella for ossicular reconstruction in 54 cases, auto-ossicular bone in 9 cases, and prosthesis in 1 case. Success rate of hearing was not affected by the type of columella. Staged operation was selected in 37 patients, and it was not significantly related to successful results for hearing.