Chronic otitis media and tympanoplasty in aged patients

Results of tympanoplasty in patients over 60 years old were analyzed mainly in terms of hearing and postoperative course. Tympanoplasty was carried out in 78 ears of 67 patients during the last ten years. The following types of tympanoplasty were employed: type I in 34 ears, type III-Columella in 23 ears, type IV-Columella in 13 ears, and other types in 8 ears. The results were compared to those of 145 ears from 119 patients ranging from 20 to 59 years of age who had undergone tympanoplasty during the last 3 years. In tympanoplasty type I, closure of the air-bone gap within 20 dB was attained in 70% of the patients over 60 years old, 90% in the 50-59 year age group, and 100% in the 20-49 year age group. In type III-Columella, these values were 60, 78, and 94%, respectively. During the postoperative follow-up, perforation of the eardrum recurred in 5 of 78 ears (6.4%) in the patients over 60, in 5 of 52 ears (9.6%) in the 50-59 year group, and in 7 of 93 ears (7.5%) in the 20-49 year group. These results suggested that hearing results were worse in patients over 60 than in the other age groups, even though the incidence of graft failure did not greatly differ by age.