- Georgopoulos G.
- Vagdatlis K.
- Vafiadis M.
ΙΝTRODUCTION : Some defects of the eardrum and the tympanic cavity can be successfully treated by surgical maneuvers, executed as an office procedure, in an ambulatory manner.
METHODS : Non – marginal perforations of the eardrum can be closed using only superficial anesthesia and microsurgical techniques. The materials used to cover the perforation and facilitate the self -–closure of it are Silastic folia, Micropore or Merocel sheets and special ventilating tubes proposed to remove small epitympanic cholosteatomas and sanitize the retraction – pocket, without injuring its epithelial layers, using suction tubes, hooks and small forceps.
RESULTS : using these methods we have succeeded 1) to close 75% of non – marginal eardrum perforations of 5mm or less in diameter and 2) to cure definitively more than 60% of small epitympanic cholesteatomas.
CONCLUSIONS: Non – marginal eardrum perforations and small epitympanic cholesteatoma may be successfully treated in an ambulatory way. The future of these techniques is based in the recent introduction of rigid and flexible endoscopes of small diameter, permitting the extension of the view – field of the surgical onto the microscope.