This is a statistical observation of 91 Korean tympanoplasty cases which were performed by me during the period of Nov. 1958 to July 1960.
85 cases out of total, except 6 fenestration, were replaced completely with free skin graft.
On looking over the literature regarding these conditions, no reports were found on statistical studies of tympanoplasty in Korea; therefore I am reporting the following results.
The classification for the cases was as follows: (Zoellner)
"A" (33 Cases) : Tympanomalleolar-stapediopexy-Bell
"B" (42 Cases) : Type III A (Tympanostapediopexy)
"C" (6 Cases) : Type V (Fenestration)
"D" (10 Cases) : Type II A (Tympanoplasty with modified radical mastoidectomy)
Age: The lowest incidence of 3.3-5.5% occured over 41 years of age and under age 10 and higher incidence occurs between age 11 to 20(46%) and 21 to 30(34%). The highest incidence (70%) occurs around age 20; this factor suggests that the patients in this age group are more concerned about their hearing disturbances.
Sex and Location: A higher incidence occurs in males(58%) than in females. In both sexes, the right ear is slightly higher than the left(43 % ).
Regarding the results of "B" Wullstein, Zoellner and Pietrantoni reported that hearing improvement exceeding 10 db. has been achieved in 50 to 70 percent of the cases. The results of cases "A" and "B" are relatively good showing a 40% improvement in the hearing of 10 to 15 db. better or more.
The results of "C" are not satisfactory, only one patient showed 10 db. hearing improvement (16%); for 50%, I5 db. worse; for 16%, 10 db. worse, however, 3 patients of "C" were not candidate for hearing improvement.
Regarding the results of "D"; for 10%, 10 db. better; for 20%, 5 db. better and for 20%, 15 db. worse; for 10%, 10 db. worse. One patient of "D" had had previous radical mastoidectomy.
Among 85 cases out of total, except 6 fenestration, intact ossicular chain was found in only 25 cases(27%) and the other 60 cases were invaded already partially or entirely in the ossicular chain.
The shortest period for drying the ear in 10% of the cases is 19-30 days; for 32%, 31-60 days; for 20%, 61-100 days and over 101 days for 18%.
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