[Therapeutic results of surgery for exostoses of the ear canal].

A relatively high complication rate in surgery for ear canal exostoses is reported in the literature. It was found of interest to review our long-term results of surgery in ear-canal exostosis, using case-report review and clinical and audiological re-evaluation. Nineteen of 26 patients, 24 ears, operated in the 20-year period 1976-1996 were re-evaluated, mean time from surgery 7.3 years. All patients were found preoperatively to have occluding ear canal exostoses with a variety of related symptoms, all were in most cases operated via the trans-canal approach. At the re-evaluation all patients were completely free of symptoms, even though exostosis remnants were found in 19 of 24 operated ears. The complication rate was 12.5%. In conclusion, in order to avoid the complications found in this material as well as in other reports a less radical removal of exostoses is proposed.