Epidemiology of middle ear and mastoid cholesteatomas. Study of 1146 cases

Middle ear cholesteatoma is an important and relatively common disorder which may have serious consequences. Aim: The purpose was to conduct a retrospective study of the statistics of 1,146 middle ear surgical procedures for middle ear cholesteatoma in adults and children of low income living in distant areas from our city. Methods: From 1962 to 1988 there were 1,146 surgeries for unilateral or bilateral cholesteatomas in children and adults, which were reviewed for the following criteria: total number of surgeries, sex, onset of the first symptoms, duration of the disease, the site of perforation, the cholesteatoma site, changes in the ossicular chain, the contralateral ear, bilateral cholesteatomas, the site of residual cholesteatoma, and complications. Results: Results are shown graphically on a pie chart. Conclusion: The etiology of cholesteatomas remains unknown. Epidemiological and statistical data, surgical reports, and conclusions of experimental studies are welcome, as they may provide support for clarifying the pathogenesis of cholesteatoma. Our results were compared with internationally published papers. We found no published papers on the epidemiology of cholesteatoma in the Brazilian literature.