The Use of Temporoparietal Fascial Flap to Eliminate Wound Breakdown in Subtotal Petrosectomy for Chronic Discharging Ears.

OBJECTIVE: To find out if the use of the vascularized temporo-parietal fascial flap (TPFF) reduces postoperative infection or wound breakdown in subtotal petrosectomy for chronic discharging ears.

PATIENTS: A retrospective review on 26 subtotal petrosectomies with blind pit closures on chronic discharging ears performed by a single surgeon between 2000 and 2015 was performed. All patients had a minimum follow-up period of 6 months.

INTERVENTION: Eleven mastoid cavities were obliterated with abdominal fat, and 15 cavities were obliterated with TPFF. There was no concomitant cochlear implant or middle ear implant.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): All postoperative wound infections or delay in wound healing were recorded into a database. The complication rates of the fat obliteration group were compared using Fisher's exact test with those for the TPFF obliteration group.

RESULTS: In the fat obliteration group, 4 out of 11 patients had documented postoperative complications. Three had wound breakdown with exposure of the fat that required revision surgery. Another patient had postauricular abscess without the wound actually broken down. On the other hand, all the ears in the TPFF obliteration group (100%) were completely free of wound infection, wound breakdown, or any complication. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p = 0.022).

CONCLUSION: Many authors have encountered postoperative infection or wound breakdown in subtotal petrosectomy with fat obliteration in the treatment of chronic otitis media. Using a richly vascularized temporo-temporal fascial flap to protect the blind pit closure in such patients reduces postoperative infection and wound breakdown.