Characterization of pain after tympanoplasty and tympanomastoidectomy and analysis of risk factors. A prospective cohort study.

Purpose: To characterize postoperative pain after tympanoplasty and tympanomastoidectomy and correlate between pain severity and various technical aspects of the surgery.
Methods: We carried out a prospective cohort study of patients undergoing ear surgery in a tertiary referral center between 7/2018 and 7/2019. Patients filled in a pain questionnaire and scored pain intensity on a visual analog scale preoperatively and on postoperative days (POD) 1-4, 21, and 49. The responses were correlated with clinical and operative data, including surgical technique-related details.
Results: Sixty-two patients participated in the study (27 males and 35 females, average age 41.1 ± 20.02 years [range 18-68]). The median preoperative VAS was 5, followed by 6 on POD1, 5 on POD3, and 1 at 3 and 9 weeks. The preoperative questionnaire score normalized to 10 was 4.5 (32/70), 5.1 on POD1, 4.7 on POD3, 0.85 at 3 weeks and 0.85 at 9 weeks. The predictive factors for increased postoperative pain were younger age, the presence of a comorbidity, revision surgery, preoperative dizziness or tinnitus and postoperative tinnitus. The predictive factors for decreased pain were smoking and the addition of a mastoidectomy. None of the factors related to the surgical technique (e.g., surgical approaches, type of reconstruction, specific surgeon) significantly affected the questionnaire responses or the pain VAS intensity scores.
Conclusions: We demonstrated that younger age, the presence of a comorbidity, revision surgery, preoperative dizziness or tinnitus and postoperative tinnitus were predictors of increased pain after tympanoplasty and tympanomastoidectomy, while the inclusion of a mastoidectomy was a predictor of decreased pain.
(© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)