(0964) The Impact of Middle Ear Packing Containing Antibiotic Ointment on the Postoperative Infection of Myringoplasty

Introduction:

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the postoperative infection, the graft success, and hearing improvement of endoscopic cartilage underlay myringoplasty with and without coating with antibiotic ointment.

Methods: Study design: Retrospective case-control study
Setting: Tertiary university hospital.
Materials and

Methods: The clinical records of endoscopic cartilage underlay myringoplasty who met the selection criteria were retrieved and categorized based on middle ear packing into 2 groups: containing antibiotic ointment packing group (CAO) and no containing antibiotic ointment packing group (NCA). The operation time, postoperative infection, the graft success, and hearing improvement were analyzed among two groups.

Results: 166 perforations were in the CAO group and 141 in the NCA group.The average operation time was 57.9±3.7 minutes in the CAO group and 29.8±2.1 in the NCA group (P < 0.01).At postoperative 3 months, postoperative middle ear infection occurred in 24 (14.5%) ears in the CAO group and 4 (2.8%) in the NCA group (P < 0.01). The graft success rate was 83.1% (138/166) in the CAO group and 97.9% in the NCA group (P < 0.01).At postoperative 12 months, the graft success rate was 81.3% in the CAO group and 97.9% in the NCA group.No significant between-group differences were observed pre- (P=0.657) or post- (P=0.578) operative ABG values or mean ABG gain (P=0.758).

Conclusions: middle ear packing without coating with antibiotic ointment does not increase postoperative infection and reduce the graft success for endoscopic cartilage underlay myringoplasty, on the contrary, coating with antibiotic ointment and complexity of middle ear manipulation would increase the possibility of postoperative infection.