Fifty-six patients with chronic otitis media, who presented with continuous otorrhea against conservative therapy for more than one month until admission, were reviewed. The patients were devided into the two groups;
Group A: The otorrhea was ceased by intensive antibiotic therapy during admission before operation.
Group B: The otorrhea continued until surgery.
The total success rate for operation was 86.4% in group A and 89.5% in group B. The average period for complete epithelization after operation was 19.6 days in group A and 27.9 days in group B. The success rate for hearing improvement was 85.0% in group A and 85.7% in group B. Also, there was no significant difference in success rates between the patients with and without mastoidectomy. These results suggested that neither active otorrhea at surgery nor mastoidectomy could be an important factor to affect the success rate for tympanoplasty.
