Twenty-five years of tympanoplasty: a critical evaluation

Twenty-five years of experience with tympanoplasty have demonstrated that the operation is not as safe as it is generally thought. Serious complications do occur. Many problems of middle ear reconstruction remain unsolved and more often than not results have not withstood the test of time. This paper attempts to answer the following questions. 1) What are the hazards in tympanoplasty surgery? 2) What are the complications of tympanoplasty? 3) What can tympanoplasty do for the welfare of the patient with reasonable certainty? 4) What has tympanoplasty been unable to do in spite of continued attempts and experimentation? 5) Why is tympanoplasty successful or unsuccessful in seemingly similar cases?