A comparative study of hearing outcome in cholesteatoma surgery canal wall up versus canal wall downmastoidectomy in 100 patients

Cholesteatoma is a well-demarcated sac of keratinizing squamous epithelium in the temporal bone, which is commonly characterized as “skin in the wrong place. The major goal of surgery for cholesteatoma is to make the ear safe and dry with increasing concern of the hearing outcome of patients. Two main surgical techniques employed are Canal Wall down (CWD) and Canal Wall up Mastoidectomy (CWU). In the current study, an attempt would be made to evaluate which technique would be better for achieving disease clearance with favorable hearing outcome and dry ear.1. To evaluate the hearing results following CWU and CWD surgery in patient with cholesteatoma.2. To decide surgical approach according to extension of disease.Materials and Methods:This is a prospective study involving 100 patients with cholesteatoma who had undergone CWD and CWU surgery over the period of 3 years.The choice of mastoidectomy, CWD or CWU, was the decision of the surgeon, after completely evaluating the patient, preoperatively and intraoperatively. All cases were followed up & assessed by autoscopic examination & PTA for minimum of 3 months. In the CWD group, mean hearing gain, in 3 months was 12±1.73dB. In the CWU group, hearing gain in 3 month postoperative period was 18±2.06 dB. Also the hearing gain between the two groups was compared and it was found to be statistically significant for the 3 months (p=0.0002) postoperatively; signifying that there was a comparable difference for CWU over CWD mastoidectomy in the matter of Hearing Gain. SNHL was also seen post operatively in both group. Total 3 (6%) patient in CWU had SNHL post operatively in comparison to 7(14%) patients in CWD. From our study results, we think that CWU is superior to the CWD surgery in cases of cholesteatoma because of good post-operative hearing outcome as well as less complication and law morbidity. CWD surgery should be used in cases of extensive cholesteatoma, mental retardation, not sure about follow up and inadequate middle ear space cases.