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Paper Patch Can Fix Perforated Eardrum: Presented at AAO-HNSF
By Roberta Friedman
Special to DG News
SAN DIEGO, CA -- September 25, 2002 -- A low tech approach using ordinary cigarette paper can repair small tears in tympanic membranes, avoiding expert and costly myringoplasties, suggest results presented here Sept. 24th at the 106th annual meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology and the Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF).
Dr. Avishay Golz of the Rambam Hospital and Technion University, in Haifa, Israel, presented a retrospective study of 77 patients who had long standing perforations. Some of the tears were of 20 years' duration, with mean duration of 8.7 years. The researchers defined surgical success as an intact tympanic membrane after at least two years' follow-up.
Final overall closure rate was 46.8 percent, using ordinary cigarette paper moistened with antibiotic ointment. Perforations of less than 5 mm had the best and fastest closure rates (55.7 percent), with closure rates of 63 percent for tears of less than 3 mm and 43 percent for medium tears (3-5 mm).
Dr. Golz said that the edges of the tear were "freshened" with a needle before the paper was applied. "The paper acts as a scaffolding," Dr. Golz explained, "just freshening is not enough" to allow re-growth.
Myringoplasty has a 95 percent success rate, Dr. Golz noted, but requires skilled surgeons and is expensive. Paper patching should be suggested to the patients as an alternative, before referring for surgery, he said, especially for tears of less than 5 mm.
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