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Cholesteatoma with intact tympanic membrane: A report of 41 cases
Author(s) -
House John W.,
Sheehy James L.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
the laryngoscope
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.181
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1531-4995
pISSN - 0023-852X
DOI - 10.1288/00005537-198001000-00008
Subject(s) - cholesteatoma , medicine , etiology , conductive hearing loss , perforation , myringotomy , serous fluid , surgery , tympanic membrane perforation , otitis , temporal bone , audiology , middle ear , tympanoplasty , pathology , materials science , punching , metallurgy
Aural cholesteatoma may present itself as an unexplained hearing impairment without either perforation or otorrhea and without radiologic evidence of bone destruction. The etiology is probably congenital. In our cholesteatoma cases, 3.7% occur in individuals with an intact tympanic membrane. Most of these patients have had the disease 5 years or less and 50% are under 20 years of age. Complications of the disease are uncommon in this group. All but 1 of our 41 cases were managed with the intact canal wall technique. Most were reexplored (planned second‐stage) and residual disease was encountered in 32%. One should keep the possibility of a congenital cholesteatoma in mind whenever encountering a unilateral serous otitis media or an unexplained unilateral conductive hearing impairment, regardless of the patient's age.