Quality of life assessment in patients who underwent Endoscopic Ear Surgery: A Comparative study with Microscopic Ear Surgery

Introduction

The advantages of using endoscopes in ear surgery are well described and relate mainly to its ability to provide high quality images, visualization of the retrotympanum, sinus tympani and corners of middle ear cleft, which are often a challenge in the microscopic approach. Health-related quality of life (QoL) is very important to understand the impact of medical or surgical interventions on the patient.

Objectives

To reveal advantages of endoscopic versus microscopic approach in ear surgery through assessment and comparison of postoperative quality of life.

Materials and Methods

A disease-specific 13-item Likert scale outcome survey, the Chronic Ear Survey (CES), was introduced to evaluate the quality of life (QoL) in patients after surgery for chronic ear disease. The survey consists of the following 3 categories: an activity restriction–based subscale (AR), a symptom subscale (ST), and a medical resource utilization (MR) subscale. A retrospective study was held at the ORL department of Kasr Al-Ainy Hospital, Cairo University. It included patients older than 18 who underwent ear surgery from January 2018 to July 2021 including tympanoplasty and cholesteatoma excision. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to approach of surgery (endoscopic or microscopic) to compare postoperative quality of life (QoL) using the Chronic Ear Survey (CES).

Results

Our study reported statistically significant difference between both groups in total and all subscales scores in favour of patients who underwent trans endoscopic ear surgery (TEES).

Conclusion

There has been a greater impact on total, general and social aspects of quality of life (QoL) amongst patients who had undergone endoscopic ear surgery compared to those undergoing an open surgical approach.

Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
24. Mai 2022