Hearing Results in Patients With No Ossicular Chain Reconstruction and Factors Influencing the Outcome

Ossiculoplasty is aimed at improving or maintaining the conductive portion of hearing in patients subjected to otologic surgery. However, satisfying hearing is frequently observed after tympanoplasty even in the absence of ossicular chain reconstruction. Aims of this article would be to evaluate hearing outcomes, in terms of pure tone average air-bone gap (PTA-ABG), in patients subjected to tympanoplasty for middle ear disease whose ossicular chain has not been reconstructed, and then to investigate factors influencing those outcomes.

Retrospective chart review of patients who underwent ear surgery from year 2003 to 2021 at the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck surgery department of the University Hospital of Modena was performed. Audiometric test results from patients who did not receive any ossicular chain reconstruction were collected and analyzed.

Tertiary University referral center.

The mean patients' follow-up was 34.1 months. Overall, mean PTA-ABG in the study population was 23.5 dB. Integrity of stapes superstructure, malleus handle and malleus head, together with the use of tragal cartilage graft over autologous temporalis fascia to reconstruct the tympanic membrane were found to be significantly associated with better hearing outcomes, as demonstrated by lower PTA-ABG values. Stapes superstructure was found to be associated with more favorable outcomes in multivariate analysis, net of confounding factors.

Good hearing performance can be obtained in patients subjected to middle ear surgery, even if the ossicular chain is not reconstructed. Presence of ossicular chain remnants and the use of a rigid material for tympanic membrane reconstruction are the factors that seem to most favorably influence hearing outcomes after surgery for middle ear disease.