Middle ear microsurgery in india: a retrospective audit study.

Around 2000 ENT Surgeons perform about 120000 middle ear microsurgery operations annually in India while the burden of otitis media is 50 million cases. A comprehensive questionnaire consisting of personal details of surgeons, his infrastructure, results, and complications was sent to 2000 ENT Surgeons from the latest AOI Directory. 400 Surgeons responded back from all over the country and the data collected was fed into a computer program and was analysed. Most of the responses were from western and southern parts of India. Almost all those who responded were performing myringoplasty while only 47 percent performed ossiculoplasty and 40 percent stapes surgery. Senior surgeons (more than 5 years after post graduation) had better infrastructure and better results as compared to junior surgeons, (less than 5 years). About 60 percent surgeons had Indian operating microscopes (commonest 80 percent being BEL) while 40 percent could afford foreign made microscopes (90 percent being Karl Zeiss). The procedure of myringoplasty is almost standardized while there is need to popularize ossiculoplasty and stupes surgery. Need was felt for technology transfer programmes from Southern and Western parts of India to Northern and Eastern parts of India.