Results
One hundred nineteen (119) patients were enrolled in this study. Age at
surgery ranged from 0.5 to 17 years, with a mean age of 10.6 ± 4.1 years
(73.9% male and 26.1% female). Mean follow-up time was 28.3 + 42.6
days. Patients were divided into two (2) groups according to the use of
MPD following mastoidectomy surgery – ninety-one (91) patients in the
MPD group and twenty-eight (28) patients in the NMPD group. Among the
former, mastoidectomy due to cholesteatoma was performed on 83 of 91
patients (91.2%); among the latter, mastoidectomy due to cholesteatoma
was performed on 24 of 28 patients (85.7%), p=0.8.
All 119 surgeries were successful. As shown in Table 1 , the
mean length of stay was 2.1 ± 2.8 days, with no significant difference
between the groups, while demographic and medical characteristics were
also quite similar. There were no postoperative mortalities and no
documented cases of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak, brain abscess, or
deafness.
Regarding minor complications, there were no significant differences
between the groups (P=0.47). In the MPD group, five (5) patients had a
minor wound dehiscence, of which three (3) experienced SSI, while five
(5) other patients developed SSI as a single complication. One (1)
patient presented a keloid scar in the long follow up. In the NMPD
group, one (1) patient had a SSI and another developed retroarticular
swelling several hours after the surgery due to a local hematoma, which
required a return to the operating room to identify the source of the
bleeding and achieve hemostasis. Two to four weeks following surgery, no
seromas, erythema, scalp folliculitis, bruising, ulcers, or skin
necrosis were found in either group. With respect to major
complications, neither group presented meningitis or facial paralysis
(Table 2 ). As regards VAS values recorded the night of surgery
and several hours before the head dressing was removed, patients in the
NMPD group reported slightly better scores with a significant difference
between the groups (0.8 ± 1.6 and 1.9 ± 2.4, respectively), p=0.02(Figure 3) .