Bacterial Cultures, Fungal Cultures, Tympanoplasty, Graft Failure, Post-Tympanoplasty Complications.

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate whether infectious agents in middle ear mucosa cultures are
associated with an increased risk of graft perforation in patients who have undergone
tympanoplasty.
Methods: This is a retrospective, observational, and analytical study. Medical records of 16
adult patients who underwent tympanoplasty were reviewed to assess the relationship
between middle ear mucosa cultures and graft loss. A multivariable regression analysis was
performed using R software, adjusting for potential confounding variables.
Results: No significant association was found between the presence of infectious agents in
cultures and the risk of graft perforation (p=0.6 for bacteria and p=0.9 for fungi). Likewise, no
significant relationship was observed with other variables such as sex (p=0.3), smoking
(p=0.9), comorbidities (p=0.7), substance abuse (p=0.3), or graft type (p=0.7).
Conclusions: Although we cannot rule out the potential role of infectious agents in graft
failure post-tympanoplasty, the small sample size is a major limitation. Further research is
needed to obtain more definitive and conclusive results.