Ossiculoplasty with the use of autografts and synthetic prosthetic materials: a comparison of results in 165 cases.

One hundred and sixty-five cases of different kind of ossiculoplasty in patients suffering from chronic middle ear disease were performed at the ENT department of Papanikolaou Hospital in Thessaloniki, Greece, during the years 1988-1990. There were 40 cases of incus transposition, 47 cases in which polyethylene TORPs and PORPs were used and 77 cases of hydroxylapatite prostheses (41 TORPs and 37 double notch PORPs). Hearing success was defined as a post-operative air-bone gap of < 20 dB. According to this criterion 74 per cent of the incus transposition cases were successful, 61 per cent of the polyethylene TORPs, 65 per cent of the hydroxylapatite TORPs, 40 per cent of the polyethylene TORPs, and 89 per cent of the double notch hydroxylapatite PORPs. It is obvious that ceramic PORPs produced the best results, while there was no statistical difference, regarding the hearing improvement, among the different kinds of TORPs which were used. Extrusion rate and other kinds of complications are also discussed, as well as a case of severely damaged ceramic TORP, within two years due to middle ear infection.