Long-term Hearing Outcome of Canaloplasty With Partial Ossicular Replacement in Congenital Aural Atresia.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to correlate the postoperative hearing outcomes with regard to the length of prosthesis of the partial ossicular replacement prosthesis (PORP) in patients with congenital aural atresia.

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective review of medical records.

SETTING, PATIENTS, INTERVENTION, MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The medical records of 131 patients (132 ears) who underwent canaloplasty with PORP by a single surgeon from 2011 to 2016 were reviewed for demographic data, Jahrsdoerfer score, grade of microtia, length of prosthesis, and audiometric outcomes. Air conduction, bone conduction threshold, and air-bone gap were measured preoperatively and at 3-, 6-, 12-, and 24-months of follow-up. Patients were divided into two groups according to the postoperative hearing outcomes, and the length of PORP was compared between the two groups. Univariable and multivariable generalized estimating equations were used to investigate other favorable prognostic factors for long-term postoperative hearing results.

RESULTS: When the improvement of the air-bone gap within 30 dB was defined as successful hearing outcome, no significant differences were observed for prosthesis length between two groups at 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. However, at 2-year follow-up, mean length of prosthesis was significantly shorter (p = 0.006) for the success group (2.30 ± 0.53 mm) than for the nonsuccess group (2.77 ± 0.73 mm). Generalized estimating equations revealed PORP length as the only factor significantly associated with favorable long-term hearing results.

CONCLUSION: Long-term hearing outcome of canaloplasty with PORP is likely to be affected by prosthesis length. For that reason, making the neo-annulus as medial as possible to shorten the length of the appropriate prosthesis is important for successful long-term hearing outcomes.