[The clinical analysis of tympanoplasty in treating children's chronic otitis media].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effectiveness of tympanoplasty for treatment of chronic otitis media and cholesteatoma in children. METHOD: Twenty-three cases with chronic otitis media and cholesteatoma treated by tympanoplasty were retrospectively studied, among which 15 cases had complete clinical data. The condition of surgical cavities, the duration of getting dry ears, the hearing improvements, the growth of new ear drums and whether the recurrence of cholesteatomas occurred or not were observed. RESULTS: In all patients, the chief complains were ear discharging and hearing loss. The tympanum membranes(pars flaccid or pars tensa) became retracted or perforated and CT scan showed mastoid processes were poor developed in some cases with lesions mainly located at attic, middle tympanum cavity and/or petrous parts. The duration of getting dry ear was (6.0 +/- 1.5) weeks after surgery. The effective rate was 80%. The hearing of 12 cases has been improved, that of 2 cases has no changed, that of 1 case has been descended, and 1 case exhibited recurrent cholesteatoma after surgery. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that children's chronic otitis media and cholesteatoma have their own clinic features of wide erosiveness and strong aggressiveness, and tympanoplasty has been proved to treat this disease effectively, also been proved to improve these patients' hearing cognitions and eventually improve their life qualities.