Canal wall down mastoidectomy: causes of failure, pitfalls and their management

Managing patients with failed canal wall down mastoidectomy, requires a meticulous approach to control the disease and restore hearing. The present article reviews the causes of failure of the primary procedure and pitfalls encountered in 105 patients referred to our centre for revision canal wall down mastoidectomy. At post-revision surgery there were no cases with residual or recurrent cholesteatoma. The failures in our revision procedure were due to tympanic membrane perforation which occurred in five per cent (n = 4) and intermittent otorrhoea in two per cent (n = 2). A dry cavity with adequate middle ear space allowed for optimum audiological function even in revision canal wall down procedures.