Korean J Otolaryngol-Head Neck Surg.  2001 Feb;44(2):134-138.

The Exploratory Tympanotomy in the Conductive Hearing Loss with Normal appearing Tympanic Membrane

• Won JY
• Yoon TH
• Chung JW
• Lee KS

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Exploratory tympanotomy is used in patients with conductive hearing loss when the cause of hearing loss is in doubt. By exploratory tympanotomy, the cause of conductive hearing loss could be found and corrected surgically at the same time. This study was designed to understand the pathology and the clinical feature of the conductive hearing loss with normal appearing tympanic membrane.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Twenty-six patients with conductive hearing loss who had under gone exploratory tympanotomy, from January, 1990 to May, 1997, were retrospectively analyzed.
RESULTS
Of 26 cases, the most common cause of the conductive hearing loss was congenital ossicular anomalies, with congenital fixations of the stapes being the most frequent among them. The other middle ear pathology included congenital cholesteatoma, sequelae of otitis media, idiopathic incus-stapes separation. In most cases, postoperative hearing has improved.
CONCLUSION
Through exploratory tympanotomy, abnormal middle ear findings could be found and corrected satisfactorily in most cases of the conductive hearing loss with normal appearing tympanic membrane.

Keyword

Conductive hearing loss; Middle ear abnormalities; Surgery; Normal tympanic membrane

MeSH Terms

Cholesteatoma
Ear, Middle
Hearing
Hearing Loss
Hearing Loss, Conductive*
Humans
Otitis Media
Pathology
Retrospective Studies
Stapes
Tympanic Membrane*