1991 Volume 1991 Issue Supplement51 Pages 64-70
To clarify the usefulness of the folded silastic sheet in staged tympanoplasty,98 patients who had undergone staged tympanoplasties from 1977 to 1989 were divided into the following 3 groups with regard to the preventive method of re-adhesion between ear drum and promontry wall. No material was inserted into the tympanic cavity for the prevention of adhesion in group A (43 cases). One piece of simple shaped silastic sheet was inserted in group B (21 cases) and a folded silastic sheet was inserted from tubtympanum to mastoid cavity in group C (34 cases). The findings in the second stage operation and the postoperative hearing results were compared among the 3 groups.
Granulation tissues were less frequently observed in group C (7.7%) than in group A (65.2%) and B (62.5%) and antral blocks were also less frequently found in group C (11.5%) than in group A (78.3%) and group B (68.7%). Moreover, the postoperative hearing results in group C were better than in group A or B. These results suggests that folded silastic sheet is more useful to prevent re-adhesion and proliferation of fibrous tissue in the tympanic and mastoid cavity than simple shaped silastic sheet.
