Tympanoplasty in patients older than 50 years old. San Juan de Dios Hospital experience

Abstract

Background: It has been published that the result of tympanic membrane surgery is conditioned by the patient’s age, being of worse prognosis in elder patients. According to recent studies, this tendency is decreasing. Aim: To assess the anatomical and auditory results of tympanoplasty performed in our department on patients older than 50 years old, in a 4-year period, analyzing other variables as well. Methods: Study of 23 patients. Results: The surgery was anatomically succesful in 82,6% of cases after a first surgery. In 52% of patients there was an auditory improvement of at least 10 dB of the aerial pure tone average. Conclusions: There were no significant anatomical or auditory differences in this age group compared with the general population, nor in the subgroup of older age. Moreover, there were no significant differences related to the type of graft, its position or surgical technique used, nor related to surgical variables such as use of postoperative antibiotic, presence of myringosclerosis, use of gelfoam or status of the contralateral ear.