Studies on Different Techniques of Tympanoplasty: A Historical Review of Indian Perspectives

Tympanoplasty surgery, which entails the reconstruction of the middle ear hearing apparatus, arose from the basic methods of eardrum repair known as myringoplasty. Reconstructive surgery of the conductive hearing mechanism is collectively called as tympanoplasty, which has gradually evolved over time with the contributions from all over the word.  aim of the present historical review is to summarize the Indian contributions in the development of the technique of tympanoplasty literature review was conducted using only the “Medline” search using keywords “tympanoplasty” and “ossiculoplasty” in “India” on 15th June 2016. A total of 195 articles and abstracts were found dated from the year 1998 onwards. Articles describing work on technique were included, and those describing only experimentation with graft material were excluded. All articles were fully read and analysed. It was found that there had been experiments regarding the choice of anaesthesia and the use of combinations of different chemical agents for this purpose. There were suggestions in favour of monitored anaesthesia care for the surgery in select patients. Surgeons expressed their perspectives on the time and conditions for the surgery, laterality of surgery, different types of incisions, use of endoscopes, graft placement techniques, ossicular replacements with autologous or allogenic grafts, and the timing of prophylactic antibiotic therapy given after or during the surgery.  The range of work is wide and covers most of the aspects of surgery; however, the incorporation of a uniform methodology and standards reporting results were lacking in the articles reviewed. It is recommended that common guidelines for reporting results of tympanoplasty be framed for the Indian sub-continent as a whole. Such an effort will promote uniform reporting standards and hence will become a stable step stone for future analysis and research in the middle ear reconstruction.