Does ear endoscopy provide advantages in the outpatient management of open mastoidectomy cavities?

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the use of ear endoscopy in the postoperative management of open mastoidectomy cavities, and to test whether ear endoscopy improves inspection and cleaning compared with ear microscopy. METHODS: Prospective study. Thirty-two ears were divided into two groups: group 1, examination and cleaning of mastoid cavities under endoscopic visualization after microscopic standard ear cleaning; group 2, examination and cleaning of mastoid cavities under microscopic visualization after endoscope-assisted ear cleaning. We assessed the ability of each method to provide exposure and facilitate cleaning, comparing the benefits of microscopy and endoscopy when used sequentially and vice-versa. RESULTS: Endoscopy provided additional benefits for exposure in 61.1% of cases and cleaning in 66.7%. Microscopy provided no additional benefits in terms of exposure in any case, and provided added benefit for cleaning in only 21.4% of cases. DISCUSSION: For outpatient postoperative care of open mastoidectomy cavities, ear endoscopy provides greater benefit over ear microscopy than vice-versa. In over half of all cases, endoscopy was able to expose areas not visualized under the microscope. Furthermore, in two-thirds of cases, endoscopy enabled removal of material that could not be cleared under microscopy. Ear endoscopy was superior to microscopy in terms of enabling exposure and cleaning of hard-to-reach sites, due to its wider field of vision. CONCLUSION: Ear endoscopy is a feasible technique for the postoperative management of open mastoidectomy cavities. Ear endoscopy provided superior advantages in terms of exposure and aural cleaning compared with microscopy.