No abstract

Recurrence of AC occurred in 10%, residual disease in 3%. Six years after surgery all patients except one had a dry ear and over 92% of all cases were water resistant. Three patients developed complete deafness. Long-lasting improvement and/or preservation of hearing, with maintenance of PTA-ABG closure in 68% of all cases within 20 dB, were obtained. Sixty-four (19%) ossicular revisions were performed.

Seven of 41 cases were evaluated as positive for cholesteatoma on non-EPI DW-MRI. Since one patient refused surgery six of these seven cases underwent surgical revision and all were verified. There was agreement between clinical and non-EPI findings in five of eight cases. EPI findings correlated poorly with non-EPI and clinical findings. Inter-rater agreement (Cohen's kappa) was 0.91 for non-EPI DW-MRI (p < 0.001) and -0.062 for EPI DW-MRI (p = 0.43).

For 90% of the patients in group 1 and 79% of the patients in group 2, the postoperative ABG was within 0 and 30 dB. The most common complications were recurrent infection, lateralization of the tympanic membrane, and restenosis of the ear canal.