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Updated: Jun 11, 2026

Endoscopic Cholesteatoma Surgery
Published on: January 19, 2022
[Tragus cartilage tympanoplasty for treatment of adhesive otitis media]
Yu-mei Shen1, Wen-qing Sun, Hong Shen
1Department of Pathology, Southern Medical University, and Department of Otolaryngology and Head-neck Surgery, Zhujiang Hospital, Guangzhou 510515, China. shenyumei2007@hotmail.com
Objective:
To evaluate the efficacy of cartilage tympanoplasty in the treatment of adhesive otitis media.
Methods:
From June to October, 2008, 18 patients with adhesive otitis media (18 ears) were treated with tragus cartilage tympanoplasty. The air-bone gap changes and the self-perceived symptomatic improvement were evaluated at 1 month and 1 year after the operation.
Results:
All the patients showed dry ear within 6 weeks after the operation. Tympanic membrane healing was achieved in 17 cases, and 1 case presented with a inferior-anterior fissure in the tympanic membrane. With the average preoperative air-bone gap (at 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 kHz) of 44.65 dB, the patients showed an obvious decrease of the air-bone gap by over 10 dB at 1 month after the operation and by over 25 dB at one year. Symptomatic improvements were achieved in these cases, including alleviated ear discomforts (3/15 cases), total tinnitus relief (1/11 cases), and alleviated tinnitus (10/11 cases). High-frequency tinnitus was noted in 1 case (1/7 cases), and the tympanic membrane appeared normal in 17 cases.
Conclusion:
Tympanic membrane reconstruction using the tragus cartilage can be feasible for treatment of secretory otitis media, but the surgical indications should be carefully controlled.
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