Background: Otitis media is an inflammation of a part or whole of the mucoperiosteal lining of the middle ear cleft. The role of mastoidectomy in the treatment of mucosal chronic otitis media has remained controversial especially when there is no evidence of active infection.
Aim of work: To evaluate the impact of cortical mastoidectomy in the management of mucosal chronic otitis media in terms of graft uptake and hearing improvement.
Patients and methods: A prospective, randomized controlled trial of 30 patients with uncomplicated mucosal chronic otitis media were allocated at random to either group of 15 patients each. Patients in group A underwent tympanoplasty without mastoidectomy and group B underwent tympanoplasty with cortical mastoidectomy. Patients were scheduled postoperatively for follow-up visits on 1, 3weeks, 3, 6 months and 1 year postoperatively for clinical assessment of the operated ear concerning graft status, ear discharge and hearing improvement.
Results: Tympanoplasty with cortical mastoidectomy has better graft uptake (93.3 %) as compared to without mastoidectomy (86.6 %). The mean air conduction threshold gain was 10.1 ± 10.2 dB in group A and 12.0 ± 9.2 dB in group B. The mean air-bone gap closure was 8.6 ± 6.9 dB in group A and 11 ± 9 dB in group B. There was no statistical significance among both groups.
Conclusion: Addressing the mastoid region by mastoidectomy did not show a statistically significant difference in the postoperative hearing gain and graft uptake rate in treating mucosal chronic otitis media.