الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Different methods and grafting materials have been used in tympanoplasty surgery. Grafting materials initially were of epidermal origin, and later various mesenchymal tissues were used.
Temporalis fascia and perichondrium remain the most commonly used materials. However, in certain conditions such as large perforations and revision tympanoplasty, fascia and perichondrium often undergo atrophy and subsequent failure in the postoperative period.
Cartilage has been shown as a promising material in tympanoplasty. Although it is similar to fascia and perichondrium as being mesenchymal tissue, it is more rigid quality tends to resist resorption and retraction.
Thickness of the cartilage graft certainly will affect the hearing result. However, large cartilage plates with thickness no more than 0.5 mm have been suggested as an acceptable comprise and the graft take of this technique has been reported excellent. Subtotal perforations at high risk for graft failure could be treated efficiently and a durable and resistant reconstruction of the TM with reasonable hearing can be achieved.
In this study, Cartilage Tympanoplasty type I using the underlay technique was the operation performed for all patients .
This study included 30 patients with subtotal tympanic membrane perforations. The patients were classified into 2 groups (15 patients in each group). Full thickness tragal cartilage graft was used in (group A) and partial thickness tragal cartilage graft was used in (group B) .
Audiological assessment was performed 2, 4 and 6 months postoperatively. Evaluation of hearing in all patients was based on the 6months postoperative audiogram .The cases were considered successful if the air-bone gap at the speech frequencies 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 Hz was decreased 10db or less.
The result of this study was found that healing occured in 14 cases from 15 cases (93.3%) in group A and successful healing in 13 cases from 15 cases (86.7%) in group B
Clinically there are improvement in hearing in all successful cases and 6 months postoperative there are audiological improvement.
There was statistical significant difference in hearing gain among the 2 groups, while the graft taking success rate showed statistically insignificant difference between the 2 groups.
Comparing the present results with those of other researches using the same techniques, revealed that they are almost similar regarding success rate and graft taking.