Comparing Myringoplasty to Type I Tympanoplasty in Tympanic Membrane Repair: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

ObjectiveTo compare the anatomic success rates of type I tympanoplasty (tympanoplasty) versus myringoplasty. By our definition, tympanoplasty involves entering the middle ear via elevation of a tympanomeatal flap, while myringoplasty involves surgery to the drumhead without middle ear exposure. Data SourcesPubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, Cochrane. Review MethodsTo be included, studies must have documented surgical technique, tympanic membrane (TM) perforation size (as % of TM), and success rate using tissue or alloplastic grafts. Exclusion criteria included series with more than 10% of patients with cholesteatoma or middle ear pathology. A meta-analysis of weighted summary proportions under the random effects model was performed, and proportion differences (PD) were calculated. A secondary analysis of hearing outcomes was performed. ResultsEighty-five studies met inclusion, with a tympanoplasty cohort of n = 7966 and n = 1759 for myringoplasty. For perforations, less than 50% of the TM, the success rate for tympanoplasty and myringoplasty was 90.2% and 91.4%, respectively (PD: 1.2%, p = .19). In perforations greater than 50%, tympanoplasty and myringoplasty success rates were 82.8% and 85.3%, respectively (PD: 2.5%, p = .29). For both procedures, perforations less than 50% of the TM had higher success rates than perforations greater than 50% of the TM (p < .01). Both techniques endorsed significant improvements to air-bone gap (ABG) metrics. ConclusionOur analysis suggests that the anatomic success rate is similar for tympanoplasty and myringoplasty, regardless of perforation size, and that smaller perforations experience higher success rates in both techniques. ABG outcomes were also similar between procedure techniques.