Surgical treatment of cholesteatoma in children.

We retrospectively reviewed patients surgically treated for cholesteatoma to determine the impact of surgical procedures on preoperative hearing status and whether there was preservation, improvement, or deterioration. We reviewed 173 patients treated over a 15-year period. One hundred eighteen (68%) patients had acquired cholesteatoma and 55 (32%) patients had congenital cholesteatoma. One hundred (58%) patients had extensive disease on presentation that required canal wall-down mastoidectomy. Patients with attic cholesteatoma underwent canal wall-up mastoidectomy, and those with cholesteatoma localized to the middle-ear space were adequately treated with tympanotomy. Hearing was preserved in 101 cases (59%), improved in 30 (17%), became worse in 23 (13%), and could not be accurately assessed in 19 (11%) due to lack of documentation. A second surgical procedure for recidivistic (recurrent or residual) disease was required in 53 (30%). Ipsilateral facial paralysis was noted in 3 (1.7%) patients immediately after recovery from anaesthesia, and 1 (0.5%) patient had a sensorineural hearing loss. This study confirmed the aggressiveness of cholesteatoma in children and demonstrated the need for careful preoperative evaluation, meticulous surgical technique, and prudent postoperative follow-up.