Abstract
From 1971 to 1983, 2, 166 tympanoplasties were performed in Kitasato University Hospital. Labyrinthine fistulas were present in 53 patients (2.4%); 52 of them they involved the bony semicircular canals, and only one had invaded primarily the cochlea wall. Surgery improved hearing in 58% of the cases of labyrinthine fistula due to chronic otitis media (almost the same rate of success for cholesteatoma without labyrinthine fistula). Two patients lost all auditory function after surgery; one of them had a cholesteatoma removed from a fistula involving the cochlea. On the basis of their experience, the authors suggest that the cholesteatoma-matrix covering a labyrinthine fistula can be removed, and the tympanoplasty should be performed in patients with labyrinthine fistula without very poor preoperative hearing.
