Cartilaginous bending spring tympanoplasty: a temporal bone study and first clinical results

Rupp R, Schelhorn T, Kniesburges S, Allner M, Mantsopoulos K, Iro H, Hornung J, Gostian AO, Balk M (2022)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Journal

European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology Springer

Abstract

Objective: Anchoring grafts for tympanic membrane (TM) reconstruction in anterior and subtotal TM defects is essential to prevent medialisation and can be facilitated by cartilaginous bending spring tympanoplasty (CBST). The purpose of this study was to analyse the impact of spring cartilages on middle ear transfer functions and patient hearing levels. Methods: In six fresh-frozen human temporal bones a cartilage graft (measuring 6 × 2 mm with a thickness of 0.1–0.2 mm) was formed into a ‘U’-shaped bending spring, to be placed between the medial tympanic wall and the tympanic underlay grafts. The stapes velocity for excitation by exponential sweeps from 400 to 10,000 Hz was measured with a laser Doppler vibrometer. The resulting middle ear transfer functions were compared with the reconstructed middle ear. For clinical evaluation, 23 ears in 21 patients with chronic otitis media and an intact ossicular chain were operated using CBST. At each follow-up visit, the patients underwent pure-tone audiometry and the Freiburg monosyllabic speech test at a presentation level of 65 dB SPL for the word recognition score (WRS). Results: The measured stapes velocities at one-third octave midband frequencies averaged 3.56 × 10^–2 ± 9.46 × 10^–3 (mm/s/Pa) compared to 3.06 × 10^–2 ± 6.86 × 10^–3 (mm/s/Pa) with the bending and underlay cartilage in place (p = 0.319; r = 0.32). The bending spring tympanoplasty reduced the transfer function by 1.41 ± 0.98 dB on average. In the clinical part of the study, the graft success rate was 96% (22 out of 23 patients) after a mean follow-up of 5.8 ± 2.4 months (min. 3.5 months, max. 12.0 months). The air–bone gap improved significantly by 6.2 dB (± 6.6 dB; p < 0.001; r = 0.69), as well as the WRS from 61.8 ± 33.3% preoperatively to 80.0 ± 20.9% postoperatively (p = 0.031; r = 0.35). Conclusion: Experimental data as well as initial clinical results suggest that CBST is an effective method for reconstructing anterior or subtotal defects of the tympanic membrane with satisfactory audiologic results and graft success rates comparable to previously described methods. It can, therefore, be added to the arsenal of tympanoplasty techniques for anterior and subtotal TM perforations.

Authors with CRIS profile

Robin Rupp Department of Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Stefan Kniesburges
Moritz Allner Department of Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Konstantinos Mantsopoulos Department of Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Heinrich Iro Lehrstuhl für Hals-, Nasen- und Ohrenheilkunde Joachim Hornung Department of Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Antoniu-Oreste Gostian Department of Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Matthias Balk Department of Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery

How to cite

APA:

Rupp, R., Schelhorn, T., Kniesburges, S., Allner, M., Mantsopoulos, K., Iro, H.,... Balk, M. (2022). Cartilaginous bending spring tympanoplasty: a temporal bone study and first clinical results. European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-022-07356-0

MLA:

Rupp, Robin, et al. "Cartilaginous bending spring tympanoplasty: a temporal bone study and first clinical results." European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology (2022).

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