Learning Objectives:

Objective: To present the result of a 5 year follow up study in a pediatric population (www.innoforce.ch) Intervention: Patients presented with acquired cholesteatoma underwent an OMET by two experienced surgeons.Results: 37 children (38 ears) underwent OMET cholesteatoma surgery with a follow-up of at least 5 years. Thirty-two primary surgeries and 6 revision operations of referred patients were included. There was a slight right ear dominance of 55%. Eighteen percent had a pathologic middle ear on the other side as well. Half of all patients had an ossiculoplasty at the time of first surgery, whereas no attempt or a staged reconstruction was planned in the other half of our patients. Overall 4 (10%) patients developed a recurrent and 3 (7%) had a residual cholesteatoma necessitating further surgery. Four patients developed recurrent disease 3 and 7,5 years after the first surgery. All patients had a dry and water-resistant ear at last follow-up.

Conclusion: Our results on recurrent/residual cholesteatoma in the pediatric population (17%) are higher than in our adult population (9%). There are a lot of conflicting data in the literature. The comparison appears difficult, since most publications do not present long-term follow-up of 5 years or longer in children. Our results compare favorably with the 10year follow-up of Fisch as we are using the same technique. Our presentation will also balance our results with recent data from bony obliterations techniques and add to the ongoing debate.