Hydroxyapatite versus titanium ossiculoplasty.

OBJECTIVE

To compare the results of ossicular chain reconstruction using hydroxyapatite (HA) and titanium (TI) prostheses.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective study and case series.

SETTING

Tertiary referral center.

PATIENTS

One hundred sixty-eight patients presenting chronic otitis media with or without cholesteatoma.

INTERVENTION

Ossiculoplasty using partial or total HA and TI ossicular replacement prostheses (TORP and PORP, respectively).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Patients were assessed at 2 months postoperatively to establish short-term results. Results of treatment for conductive hearing loss were reported according to guidelines. Available audiometric data at 1, 2, 3, and 5 years were used to assess prosthesis stability. Average postoperative air-conduction gain, air-bone gap, and sensorineural hearing level were measured at four frequencies: 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz. Statistical analyses compared outcomes for HA TORP versus TI TORP and HA PORP versus TI PORP.

RESULTS

Postoperative air-bone gap of less than 20 dB was obtained in 50% of HA TORP versus 45.8% of TI TORP cases and in 63.2% of HA PORP versus 72% of TI PORP cases. Preoperative middle ear status and presence/absence of malleus significantly influenced postoperative audiometric results. All types of prosthesis demonstrated significant postoperative air-conduction gain decrease on follow-up. Prosthesis exclusion was observed in three cases (1.78%).

CONCLUSION

Prostheses using both types of biomaterial gave good functional results and stability with low exclusion rates, with no statistically significant differences between the two. Trends could be observed for slightly better results for HA in total reconstruction and for TI in partial reconstruction. The degradation in postoperative functional gain seemed to be independent of prosthesis type.