The bioactive glass ceramic Ceravital in ear surgery. Five years' experience

Since 1979, various ceramics have been recommended as valuable implant materials in tympanoplasties. Such implants are used for the reconstruction of the ossicular chain or the posterior canal wall. Animal studies on bioinert and bioactive ceramics in the middle ear have been carried out to confirm their biocompatibility. Histologic and clinical findings have made it obvious that aluminum- or borum-aluminum oxide ceramics are well tolerated in the middle ear and may produce functional results, provided they are separated from the tympanic membrane or the footplate of the stapes by an interposition of cartilage. Porous tricalcium phosphate ceramics cannot be recommended for the reconstruction of the ossicular chain because they are degradable, but they may be useful for the obliteration of small mastoid cavities. Our five-year histologic and clinical experience with the bioactive glass ceramic Ceravital revealed in 1983 that this material is suitable for the reconstruction of the ossicular chain as well as of the posterior canal wall, without the need for protection by cartilage. Ceravital implants in fact behave like homologous ossicles.