Palisade tympanoplasty in children yielded good anatomic and functional results. The anatomic results obtained using this technique were superior to those obtained using temporalis muscle fascia. Children who underwent Type 1 tympanoplasty with palisaded cartilage had equivalent postoperative audiometric results compared with children who underwent Type 1 tympanoplasty with temporalis fascia. Thus, palisade cartilage tympanoplasty is an effective technique for both tympanic membrane closure and hearing improvement in children.

The objectives of this study were to determine the incidence and locations of dehiscence of the fallopian canal (FC) in patients undergoing surgery for different middle ear pathologies and to describe the findings that will aid in pre-operative prediction of dehiscence. Charts and operative details of the 118 ears managed with canal wall-down and 147 ears managed with canal wall-up tympanomastoidectomy performed by a single surgeon were retrospectively reviewed. The distribution of the diagnoses for ears that were operated was as follows: 118 ears cholesteatoma, 42 ears adhesive otitis, 23 ears tympanosclerosis, and 82 ears chronic otitis media. The presence and the location of facial nerve dehiscence after exenteration of the disease as well as the presence of any coexisting inner ear fistula and dural defect were noted. FC dehiscence was observed in 56 of the cases. The incidence of dehiscence was highest among ears with cholesteatoma (n = 44, P < 0.05). Adults and also male patients in the study had significantly higher incidence of dehiscence compared to pediatric (P < 0.05) and female (P < 0.01) patients. The most common location for dehiscence was the tympanic segment which was significantly higher than the other locations (P < 0.01). Among the ears with FC dehiscence, labyrinthine fistula presence was seen in ten ears which was also significant (P < 0.001). Patients with dural exposure were 12.06 times more likely to have FC dehiscence than those without dural exposure. The incidence of FC dehiscence was 1.26 times higher in revision operations, but the difference was not significant (P > 0.05). An otologic surgeon should be more careful while performing operation for cholesteatoma in an adult and male patient because of the high incidence of dehiscence observed in these ears. Presence of lateral semicircular canal fistula and erosion of the bony tegmen should also be considered as a clue for the presence of dehiscence before surgery. Operation of these ears should be performed by experienced surgeons in otology.

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We investigated the synergism between alcohol consumption and herpes simplex virus (HSV) in the development of laryngeal squamous cell cancer and in the clinical course of this disease. HSV DNA was searched by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique in the fresh tumor tissues of 22 patients with laryngeal cancer without alcohol consumption (Group 1) and of 23 patients with chronic alcohol consumption (Group 2), and their HSV prevalences were compared. No statistically significant difference was detected between the two groups in terms of HSV incidence frequency (P > 0.05), but the risk of finding HSV in tumor tissue in patients with alcohol consumption history was 3.4-fold higher than in those without alcohol consumption history (OR = 3.378, 95% CI = 0.762-14.982). There were no statistically significant differences in terms of lymph node metastasis, tumor localization, tumor diameter, tumor stage and tumor differentiation between the patients in Group 1 and Group 2 (P > 0.05). Larger case series will further elucidate the role of HSV in the development of laryngeal cancer, the nature of its interactions with other carcinogens and its effect on the clinical course.