OBJECTIVE To study the contralateral ear of patients with chronic otitis media (COM). DESIGN Transversal. SETTING Tertiary referral center. PATIENTS A total of 500 consecutive patients who had been diagnosed as having COM with or without cholesteatoma. INTERVENTIONS Digital otoendoscopy was performed on both ears. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Pathologic alterations in the contralateral ear. ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The recent increase in the reported incidence of congenital cholesteatoma (CC) may be secondary to the widespread use of otoendoscopy as well as an increased awareness of these lesions among primary care physicians. However, little research about CC has been conducted in a large group of patients. This study aimed to analyze the clinical characteristics of CC including...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether endoscopic cholesteatoma removal can be performed efficiently and safely using a curved fiberoptic-based laser. BACKGROUND Angled instruments are required in endoscopic ear surgery to access recesses of the middle ear without extra drilling. Lasers are effective at ablating visible and microscopic cholesteatoma matrix and removing granulation tissue. STUDY DES...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether middle ear cholesteatoma is associated with, sensorineural hearing loss, and whether patient age, cholesteatoma growth pattern, or, air bone gap size contribute to inner ear impairment. STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional comparative. SETTING A tertiary hospital. PATIENTS The subjects were 115 patients with middle ear cholesteatoma in one ear, and normal video-otos...

BACKGROUND The performance of nationwide studies of chronic otitis media (COM) in adults has been insufficient in Korea. We evaluated the prevalence and risk factors of COM in Korea. METHODS This study was conducted using data from the fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (n = 23,621). After excluding the subjects under 20 year old and suffered from cancers, 16,063 pa...

INTRODUCTION Previous reports indicated that middle ear surgery might partially improve tinnitus after surgery. However, until now, no influencing factor has been determined for tinnitus outcome after middle ear surgery. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between preoperative air-bone gap and tinnitus outcome after tympanoplasty type I. METHODS Seventy-fi...