0000000000424034
AUTHOR
R. Reck
Bioactive Glass-Ceramics in Middle Ear Surgery An 8-Year Review
An 8-year follow-up of Ceravital middle ear prostheses showed there was extremely good tolerance in the middle ear space. Incompatibility phenomena were not observed, and inflammatory reactions were neither caused nor supported by the implants. The tympanoplasties were always performed without interposition of cartilage between the tympanic membrane or the tympanic membrane graft and the disk-shaped portion of the implant, and extrusions were never observed. Long-lasting inflammatory processes appeared to destroy implants the same way they destroy ossicles. Transient inflammatory periods (such as episodes of purulent otitis media, which occurred soon after the prostheses were implanted) did…
Tissue reactions to glass ceramics in the middle ear
The bioactive glass ceramic "Ceravital" was used to fashion prostheses for the replacement of various ossicles in the middle ear. They were tested in 70 rabbit ears, where they were accepted in osseous areas without formation of surrounding fibrous tissue. Histological examinations regularly showed an osseous bond with the surrounding bony tissue. Mucous membrane covered these ossicular chain prostheses and showed no evidence of inflammatory reactions. Glass ceramic implants were also used to reconstruct the ossicular chain and the posterior wall of the outer ear canal in 100 patients. The functional results were satisfactory in all cases.