Pre and post operative evaluation of hearing in chronic suppurative otitis media

Aim: To evaluate pre- and postoperative hearing status in patients of chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) undergoing mastoidectomy with tympanoplasty. Study type- Prospective. Materials and Methods: Eighty cases of CSOM were included. All patients underwent a pre-operative pure-tone audiometry (PTA) to find out the hearing status and to obtain documentary evidence for the same, and X-ray mastoid (bilateral Schullre's view) to assess the pathology and surgical anatomy of the mastoid. All patients included in the study were categorized into three groups according to the surgery planned: Group-A: Tympanoplasty, Group-B: Canal wall up (CWU) mastoidectomy with tympanoplasty, and Group-C: Canal wall down CWD mastoidectomy with reconstruction. Post-operatively, after 10 weeks and 6 months, audiological examination (PTA) was carried out to compare pre- and post-operative hearing status. Results: In this study we found that postoperative hearing results were better in the case of safe CSOM ascompared with unsafe CSOM and of tympanoplasty as compared with tympanoplasty with mastoidectomy.