Recidivism After Endoscopic Treatment of Cholesteatoma

To investigate the recidivism rate of cholesteatoma treated via endoscopic ear surgery (EES), either via transcanal endoscopic ear surgery or endoscopic assisted tympanomastoidectomy compared with a microscopic postauricular approach.

Retrospective chart review.

Academic otology practice.

Adult patients (18 years and older) with at least 11 months of surgical follow-up who were treated for cholesteatoma via endoscopic techniques or microscopic postauricular approach.

Use of the endoscope for cholesteatoma dissection.

Residual or recurrent cholesteatoma identified at second look surgery or postoperative diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.

Fifty-nine patients treated for cholesteatoma via endoscopic techniques and 35 patients treated via microscopic postauricular approach were analyzed. The endoscopic group required significantly fewer mastoid procedures (28% versus 80%, p-value 0.001). Postoperative changes in median ABG (5 dB versus 3.75 dB, p = 0.9519), median PTA (6.875 dB versus 1.25 dB, p = 0.3864), and median word recognition score (0% versus 0%, p = 0.3302) were not significantly different between the EES and microscopic surgery groups. Median operative times were not significantly different between the two groups (182 min endoscopic versus 174 min microscopic, p-value 0.66). The rate of residual disease (17% EES versus 17% microscopic, p = 0.959) or disease recurrence (18% endoscopic versus 20% microscopic, p = 0.816) were not significantly different between the two groups.

EES is an effective option for cholesteatoma management with similar rates of recurrent or residual disease as compared with the more traditional microscopic postauricular approach in these samples.