An evaluation of prognostic factors for tympanoplasty with titanium prostheses in chronic ear surgery

Aim: This study aimed to assess the effects of preoperatively measured middle ear risk index (MERI) and intraoperative ossicular chain findings on postoperative hearing in patients who underwent ossiculoplasty performed by using universal titanium prostheses. Materials and Methods: Patients who underwent ear surgery using universal titanium prostheses due to malfunctioning in the incus were included. Preoperative ear examination results, surgical findings, and MERI scores were assessed. Preoperative and postoperative air-conduction and bone-conduction hearing thresholds and air-bone gap were assessed at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz frequencies. Results: We found that presence of the malleus and stapes suprastructure and prognostic MERI grading affected the reconstruction success rate. The air-bone gap results were found to be 100%, 87.5% and 12.5% in the mild, moderate, and severe MERI groups, respectively. Discussion and Conclusion: In line with the literature, we observed that preoperative MERI scoring might help surgeons develop a patient-specific operation strategy by providing guidance during ossiculoplast