ASSESSMENT OF HEARING IMPROVEMENT BY TYPE 1 TYMPANOPLASTY

BACKGROUND Type I tympanoplasty is a procedure commonly performed in case of tubotympanic CSOM or COM [mucosal] type. The procedure involves repair of tympanic membrane perforation with temporalis fascia graft.(1) The aim of surgery is reduction in the patient's hearing disability and not just an ear free of discharge [Safe ear].(2) The purpose of this study is to quantify hearing improvement by pre-operative and post-operative audiometric evaluation. MATERIALS AND METHODS It is a retrospective descriptive study. In our study of 50 cases, all patients who underwent type I tympanoplasty in the Department of ENT, Govt. General Hospital, Kakinada, for perforation of the tympanic membrane [tubotympanic CSOM] between September 2013 and February 2015 have been evaluated and the first 50 patients with successful graft take-up 6 months post-operatively have been included in this study. RESULTS In this study, maximum number of patients were seen in the age group of 15 - 25 years (46%). Results were more encouraging in the younger age group with 11.7 dB improvement in (15 - 25) age group, 11.43 dB in (26 - 35) years' age group and 11.8 dB in (3645) years' age group. Audiological benefit was found to correlate with the size of the perforation, cases with larger perforations showed more hearing gain post-operatively.(3,4) There is improvement in hearing following successful graft take-up, which can be documented by comparing pre-operative and post-operative PTA.(5) CONCLUSION It may be concluded from this study that type 1 tympanoplasty provides good results in terms of improvement of hearing post-operatively.(6) It has given immense relief to patients with CSOM, both in terms of an ear free of discharge and improvement of hearing.