Metallic foreign body adjacent to the round window: a rare cause for chronic tympanic membrane perforation with hearing loss

Welding injuries to the tympanic membrane (TM) or middle ear are rare but can cause significant damage. These injuries occur when a hot spark or molten slag drops directly into the external auditory canal and through the action of gravity (because the ear is upright during such an injury), then risks burning through the TM. This can lead to a multitude of adverse consequences including chronic TM perforation, secondary purulent otorrhoea, facial palsy, taste disturbance, vertigo and hearing loss. We present the case of a welding injury to the right TM, resulting in a chronic perforation and hearing loss. The patient required surgical intervention for removal of the metallic foreign body and repair of the TM. The patient obtained a good surgical result with no sensorineural hearing loss. This is a preventable occupational injury, which can be avoided by use of ear protection and increased awareness of this potential risk.

Chronic tympanic membrane perforation closure: from historical aspects to modern methods

The article presents the different grafts for chronic tympanic membrane perforation closure. The types of surgical treatment of chronic otitis media are described in a historical aspect. The initially proposed vascularized skin grafts were quickly replaced by a range of connective tissue autografts. Authors indicated a few studies in which fascia lata, venous wall, periosteum were used for myringoplasty. However, these tissues are not widely used in otosurgery. The special attention is given to the comparative studies on the outcomes of closure with fascial and cartilage grafts. The last ones are currently most commonly used for myringoplasty. Nonetheless, the use of each of these grafts is associated with indicated in the literature advantages and disadvantages. The cartilaginous grafts allow to close rather big perforations, but with lack of flexibility and pliability. On the other hand, flexible perichondrium and fascia improve the mechanical properties of neotympanic membrane yet increasing the risk of retraction and reperforation. Therefore, the search of alternative treatment for chronic tympanic membrane perforation is lasting at present. There are many studies on regenerative medicine in foreign literature. The tissue engineering approach allows to repair the damaged tissue due to proliferation of pluripotent cells and activation of their migration. The tympanic membrane regenerative potential eliminates the need for external stem cells and allows to use less complicated “in situ” tissue engineering technique. The key of this technique is the combination of the regeneration regulating factors with temporary supporting scaffolds. The authors also describe the advantages of the modern tissue engineering approach and prospects for its further application to clinical practice.

Regeneration of the tympanic membrane using fibroblast growth factor-2

ObjectiveA systematic review was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of fibroblast growth factor-2 on the regeneration of tympanic membrane perforation.MethodsThe PubMed database was searched for relevant studies. Experimental studies, human randomised controlled trials, prospective single-arm studies and retrospective studies reporting acute and chronic tympanic membrane perforations in relation to two healing outcomes (success rate and closure time), were selected.ResultsAll 11 clinical studies investigating the effect of fibroblast growth factor-2 on traumatic tympanic membrane perforations in humans reported a success rate of 89.3–100 per cent, with a closure time of around 2 weeks. Three studies of fibroblast growth factor-2 combined with Gelfoam showed that the success rate of chronic tympanic membrane perforation was 83–98.1 per cent in the fibroblast growth factor-2 group, but 10 per cent in the gelatine sponge groups.ConclusionFibroblast growth factor-2 with or without biological material patching promotes regeneration in cases of acute and chronic tympanic membrane perforation, and is safe and efficient. However, the best dosage, application time and administration pathway of fibroblast growth factor-2 are still to be elucidated.