Incidence of Facial Nerve Canal Dehiscence in Primary and Revision Cholesteatoma Surgery

The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the incidence of facial canal dehiscence (FCD) in primary and revision cholesteatoma surgery in a tertiary referral center. Moreover, our second goal was to identify association between FCD and other intra-operative pathological findings in a group of patients with cholesteatoma surgery. Inclusion criteria were primary and revision canal wall up and canal wall down tympanomastoidectomy in patients who suffers from chronic otitis media (COM) with cholesteatoma. An exclusion criterion was charts with in adequate documentation. In addition tympanoplasty cases were excluded due to evaluate both tympanic and mastoid segments of facial nerve canal. Preoperative clinical data and intra-operative findings were documented in a formatted questionnaire. We found the incidence of FCD in COM surgery was 18%. There was no difference between the primary and revision surgeries regarding its incidence. In addition, there was association between some preoperative or intra-operative findings of COM, such as middle fossa dural dehiscence, external auditory canal polyp, facial nerve paralysis, labyrinthine fistula, and FCD. In conclusions we found that there was no difference between primary and revision surgeries regarding the incidence of FCD. Surgeons should consider effective measures to prevent intra-operative facial nerve trauma in COM surgeries.