COMPARATIVE OUTCOME OF TEMPORAL FASCIA AND TRAGAL CARTILAGE GRAFT IN TYPE 1 TYMPANOPLASTY

Background: Tympanoplasty is the preferred treatment for chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) of tubotympanic disease. Numerous varieties of grafts are employed to repair the tympanic membrane in such cases. Our study compared the graft take up rate and conductive hearing gain after type 1 tympanoplasties using temporalis fascia and tragal cartilage grafts. Materials and method: One hundred and twenty patients who had undergone type 1 tympanoplasty using temporal fascia and tragal cartilage were retrospectively reviewed. Eighty seven patients underwent tympanoplasty using temporal fascia graft while in 33 patients, tragal cartilage with perichondrium was employed. Graft take up was analyzed at 6 weeks post-operatively, in both the groups. Pre-operative mean of calculated averages of air bone gap was compared with postoperative mean in both groups. Conductive hearing gain was also compared. Results and conclusion: Although conductive hearing gain was noteworthy in both, but still there was no statistically significant difference when the two groups were compared. Similarly, our study demonstrated no significant difference in graft take up rate and conductive hearing gain in both the groups. Consequently, both temporal fascia and cartilage can be used unconventionally as suitable graft materials in type 1 tympanoplasty surgeries.