The influence of mastoidectomy on natural history of secretory otitis media in cochlear implant children.

Secretory otitis media (SOM) is a common childhood disease. The goal of the present study was to determine the influence of mastoidectomy on the incidence of postimplantation SOM in cochlear implant children. We conducted a retrospective study of all the children up to the age of 8 years, who underwent cochlear implantation from 1993 to 2001 in our department. The children were divided into two groups according to the surgical technique used for the implantation: 94 children underwent implantation with the posterior tympanotomy approach (including mastoidectomy) and 48 children were implanted with a suprameatal approach (without mastoidectomy). The incidence of SOM before and after the implantation was compared between the two groups. There were no significant differences between the two study groups in terms of age and the pre- and postimplantation incidence of SOM. Mastoidectomy failed to demonstrate any influence on the natural history of SOM.