Endoscopic ear surgery – a complement to microscopic ear surgery

Wullstein, the founder of modern microscopic ear surgery, already used an oto-endoscope intraoperatively. However, it is only after the recent development of modern video-endoscopy with high-definition, 4K, and 3‑dimensional imaging that endoscopically guided surgery of the middle ear is gaining some importance. Key ventilation routes like the isthmus tympani and the epitympanic diaphragm can be visualized far better using an endoscope than with a microscope. Going through the external meatus, surgery of middle ear pathologies is possible without external incision. This type of primary endoscopic ear surgery has to be distinguished from secondary endoscopic ear surgery, where standard microscopic ear surgery is supplemented by endoscopic surgery. Having to hold the endoscope in one hand, surgery has to be performed single-handedly, which is awkward. In cases of extensive bone removal or excessive bleeding, the view through the endoscope lens is obscured; therefore; the endoscope cannot fully substitute the microscope. It is, however, an interesting adjunct to microscopic ear surgery.