Cholesteatoma treatment with cholesteatoma removal surgery

Cholesteatoma surgery is the only widely available method proven to cure all cholesteatoma-related symptoms and entirely prevent relapses for most patients. Unfortunately, symptoms might occasionally relapse due to cholesteatoma's specific anatomy and structural features. Still, the positive effects of surgical removal are occurring much faster than conservative treatment. Doctors use two different names for surgery that help to treat cholesteatoma. The first name is the combined approach tympanoplasty (CAT) and the second canal wall-up (CWU) mastoidectomy. The surgery takes 2-3 hours on average. The patient receives general anesthesia before the start of the surgery, along with various medications (drug specifications might vary in every particular case) and other necessary pre-surgery preparing remedies. At first, the surgeon makes a small cut behind the patient's ear and removes the part of the mastoid bone that directly contacts the middle ear. Then ENT surgeons remove the cholesteatoma and any severely inflamed tissues (often including elements bones) and inspect the ear with an endoscope (a tiny camera on a flexible wire) to ensure no signs of cholesteatoma or severe inflammation have left. Finally, the previously removed piece of the mastoid bone is replaced with an artificial implant or the patient's peculiar bone fragments, and surgeons place final stitches on the wound.