Comparison of endoscopic and microscopic ear surgery in pediatric patients: A meta-analysis

Recently, the endoscope has been increasingly introduced for middle-ear surgery. To evaluate the postoperative outcomes of endoscopic ear surgery (EES) in pediatric patients, we did a qualitative analysis with a systematic review and quantitative analysis with meta-analysis of available literature.

Studies reporting the comparative surgical outcomes of EES in pediatric patients were systematically reviewed by searching the MEDLINE, PubMed, and Embase databases from database inception through 2017. The selected articles included clinical studies conducted with at least 30 subjects and at least one postoperative parameter, including residual or recurrent cholesteatoma and graft success in tympanoplasty. Two investigators independently reviewed all studies and extracted the data using a standardized form. A meta-analysis was performed using a random-effects model and qualitative review was performed on the smaller studies.

Ten studies were identified as appropriate for quantitative meta-analysis and 19 studies for qualitative analysis. In the meta-analysis, residual or recurrence rate of cholesteatoma was significantly lower in the EES group than in the microscopic ear surgery (MES) group (odds ratio [OR]: 0.56, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.38-0.84, P = .005). The graft success rate of tympanoplasty was not statistically different between EES and MES groups (OR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.41-1.26, P = .249). In the qualitative analysis, most of the studies reported similar audiological outcomes after tympanoplasty and success rate of cholesteatoma removal between the two groups.

It appears that EES reduces the risk of residual cholesteatoma in children and that the success of perforation closure is equivalent to MES. Laryngoscope, 129:1444-1452, 2019.