Cholesteatoma operation. With chronic suppuration, necrosis of the bone can destroy parts of the ear and of the skullbase. What is known as cholesteatoma must be treated surgically.

We talk about cholesteatoma in ENT medicine, when a long-term middle ear infection of a patient has reached a chronic stage. Put simply, this severe ear disease is often referred to as deep bone infection. Due to the destruction of the bone, the term chronic bone suppuration is also often used. When you look at cholesteatoma on a CT scan, is often appears as rounded bony defects, whereas looking through a surgical microscope at cholesteatoma you are reminded of a pearl or onion-like lump.

For many patients, cholesteatoma progresses only slowly and usually is painless for many years. But it is precisely the innocuous symptoms of cholesteatoma that make its progression so dangerous. Because the patient feels no pain, the cholesteatoma has virtually free rein and can spread aggressively to adjacent bone structures. In some patients, it spreads dissolving the bone of the skull around the ear as it goes.

To stop the dangerous progression and to save the remaining hearing, the only solution is surgery, which we can offer at our Kassel group practice. In the first step, we need to check exactly how advanced your cholesteatoma is. Under certain circumstances, a tympanoplasty operation may be sufficient. If the infection has spread extensively then surgery will also be extensive to repair the diseased or damaged bone.

Patient information:

As every human being is different and in medicine, because of its very nature, the success of a method cannot be guaranteed, all of our patients receive information before the treatment starts about the procedure, possible alternatives and even about possible risks and complications. Because we want to achieve the best possible care in partnership with you.