The Prognostic Value of Active Otitis Media on Tympanoplasty Success Rate—A Systematic Review

Objectives: The aim is to investigate the influence of an active otitis media on the success rate of tympanoplasty in patients with a chronic otitis media (COM) and a tympanic membrane perforation. Databases Reviewed: PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library. Methods: The inclusion criteria were studies on closure rates of tympanoplasty performed in COM patients of any age with a tympanic membrane perforation caused by COM. The exclusion criteria were studies on patients undergoing concomitant mastoidectomy, ossicular chain reconstruction, tuboplasty, adenoidectomy, revision tympanoplasty, patients with perforations due to other conditions than COM, and letters to editors, commentaries, conference abstracts and case reports. The included articles were critically appraised using the QUIPS tool. Data on tympanic membrane closure rate were extracted, odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of the closure rate with a wet versus a dry ear were calculated. Results: The search was performed on 1 February 2023. Of 4671 articles, 16 studies were included and critically appraised. Of these observational studies (nine prospective, seven retrospective), with a total of 1509 patients (dry ear group n = 1003; wet ear group n = 506), two studies stated a significant difference in success rate, one in favour of a dry ear and one in favour of a wet ear at time of surgery. All other studies did not show a statistically significant difference. Overall, the risk of bias was considered moderate to high. Conclusions: We found no significant prognostic value of having an active otitis media during tympanoplasty on tympanic membrane closure rates. Because the overall risk of bias was considered moderate to high, no strong conclusions can be made. To be able to answer this question with higher levels of evidence, high-quality prospective or randomized studies are needed.