Use of Glass Ionomer Cement for Incudostapedial Rebridging Ossiculoplasty

Introduction: The ossicles of the middle ear are affected by the erosive effect of pathology in chronic otitis media. Ossicular reparation can be done via autologous incus or with alloplastic materials. Glass ionomer cement (GIC) is simple to use and saves considerable operative time and expenses especially in developing countries where costly ossicular prosthesis are not affordable for the majority of the patients.

Materials and methods: Twenty-five chronic otitis media patients who underwent surgery were included in this study. The reconstruction material used in this study was glass ionomer cement. All patients had erosion of the long process of incus and a normal stapes.

Results: Pure tone average in pre-operative and post-operative period of study patients were 50.09 & 29.92 dB respectively (P=0.01) and the air-bone gap was 24.85 dB preoperatively and 14.05 dB postoperatively. The closure of the air-bone gap was statistically significant (P= 0.01).

Conclusion: The study showed that the use of GIC ossiculoplasty is an efficient method for the reparation of the long process of the incus. The results are encouraging and indicate that it is worthwhile to conduct more trials using this method.