An Exposition on Endoscopic Broad Palisade Cartilage Tympanoplasty: Procedural Illustrations and Connotations in Context of Audiological and Morphological Outcomes

The objective of this study was to evaluate graft take up rate and hearing improvement in type I and type III endoscopic tympanoplasty using broad palisade cartilage graft and to compare the results with other studies who have used single piece cartilage as graft. This retrospective observational descriptive study was done in a tertiary care hospital. This study included 64 cases, who met the inclusion criteria, which were operated over 2 years and were followed for 3 years. The results were evaluated using graft uptake rates and hearing improvement comparing the preoperative and postoperative air conduction threshold (ACT) and air bone gap closure (ABG). The graft take rate was 92.1% and 87.5% at the end of 1 year and 3 years respectively. The preoperative and post-operative air conduction threshold were 35 +/- 6.0 dB HL and 17.5 +/- 2.7 dB HL in type I tympanoplasty respectively (p value <0.0001) while in type III tympanoplasty, preoperative and post-operative air conduction threshold (ACT) were 43.3 +/- 8.6 dB HL and 23.1 +/- 4.2 dB HL respectively (p value <0.0001). The preoperative and postoperative air bone gap (ABG) were 29.0 +/- 5.6 dB HL and 14.4 +/- 4.20 dB HL in type I tympanoplasty respectively (p value <0.0001). In type III preoperative and post-operative air bone gap were 36. 1 +/- 7.5 dB HL and 16.4 +/- 3.3 dB HL respectively (p value < 0.0001). Endoscopic broad palisade cartilage tympanoplasty has similar outcomes in morphological and audio logical perspectives as single piece cartilage tympanoplasty. Further studies with long term follow up period are required to corroborate the result of this study.