[Relation between the level of involvement of the ear, the middle ear and the face in microtia]

Based on examination of 80 adult men with unilateral microtia the authors examined the relationship between the affection of the ear lobe, middle ear and face. The revealed significant relations were due solely to subjects with the most severe or with the slightest affection. Correlation coefficients therefore do not characterize relations in the majority of patients and their magnitude is influenced by the ratio of marginal variants of the anomaly in the group. The calculation of the relationship for the entire range of variation of the defect thus is useless. These findings may have a more general validity. They are consistent with the experimental evidence on a haematogenic origin of branchiogenic defects and assumptions derived from this hypothesis. Facial asymmetry is a prognostically important sign for the estimation of the extent of damage of the middle ear.