Age-Related Impact on Tympanoplasty Results in Adult Individuals: Prospective Observational Study

Tympanoplasty is the surgical treatment of Chronic Otitis Media and it aims to eradicate the middle ear disease and provide better hearing to the patient. 'Does age of the patient impact the outcome of tympanoplasty?' is a valid question concerning every otologist. The result of this study will highlight the success rate of graft uptake and hearing improvement with respect to different age groups. To determine if age of the patient is a factor influencing the success rate of Tympanoplasty based on the following parameters:-Graft Uptake, Post operative Hearing gain. A prospective observational study was conducted on 44 patients who underwent underlay Tympanoplasty for a dry central perforation with conductive hearing loss. Pure Tone Audiogram was done pre-operatively. The post-operative Pure Tone Audiogram was repeated three months after the surgery and was compared with the pre-operative PTA. The status of graft uptake was checked 3 months post-operatively. It was observed that the graft uptake rate was the least in the age group of 51-65 years and decreased when the age of the patient was 36-50 years. The graft uptake rate was the highest in patients between 18 and 35 years of age. The hearing gain was maximum when the age of the patient was between 18 and 35 years and gradually decreased as the age of the patient increased to 36-50 years and was the least when the age of the patient was between 50 and 65 years. The graft uptake rate was higher in the younger patients than the older patients. All cases show noticeable increase in hearing improvement following tympanoplasty. However, with the advancing age of the patient the post-operative hearing improvement decreased. Thus, 'age of the patient' impacts the success rate of tympanoplasty.