Objective

The objective of the study is to evaluate the outcomes of surgical management options for cholesteatoma using a national database.

Study design

Database analysis of the Pediatric Health Information System database to identify children undergoing surgical intervention for cholesteatoma from October 2015 to December 2022.

Methods

Patients were categorized by initial surgical modality: tympanoplasty (TM), tympanoplasty with canal wall-up tympanomastoidectomy (TM-CWU), and tympanoplasty with canal wall-down tympanomastoidectomy (TM-CWD). Group comparisons were done on number of surgical revisions and number of patients identified with recommendations for hearing aids.

Results

A total of 6304 patients were identified in the database who underwent surgery for cholesteatoma. Of these children, 3405 underwent TM (54.0%), 3116 underwent TM-CWU (49.4%), and 825 underwent TM-CWD (8.2%). The estimated difference in mean number of procedures was significantly higher in the TM-CWU group compared to TM-CWD (-0.34, 95% confidence interval [CI] -0.406,-0.279, P < .0001) and the TM group (9.352, 95% CI 0.315, 0.390, P < .0001). The rate of significant hearing loss necessitating hearing aids was significantly lower in the TM group, but there was no difference between the TM-CWU and TM-CWD groups (1.2%, P < .03, 1.9% vs 2.7%, P = .13). There was no difference in the number of speech delays/therapy diagnoses between TM and TM-CWU or TM-CWU and TM-CWD (3.5%vs 4.4% P = .07, 4.4% vs 5.2%., P = .38).

Conclusion

TM and TM-CWD had lower total surgical procedures than the TM-CWU group, and the TM group had a lesser rate of recommendation for hearing aids. The difference between number of procedures is likely due to the complexity of the disease; for instance, TM was likely chosen for small, less severe disease cases, whereas TM-CWD was chosen as more definitive treatment in aggressive cases. TM-CWD is associated with a lower rate of recidivism and recurrence, which also likely contributed to the lower number of procedures.