PATIENTS AND METHODS
After obtaining institutional review board approval from the XXX, we carried out a retrospective analysis on 46 patients diagnosed with MD, according to AAO-HNS criteria8, who were treated by a surgical strategy that combined TSCO and ESD in the Department of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Ssurgery in XXX between July 2015 and June 2019. All information based on patients’ medical records and follow-up interviews (telephone or questionnaire), including clinical symptoms, previous treatments, surgical procedures, and control of vertigo attacks, tinnitus and aural fullness, preservation of hearing, rehabilitation of equilibrium function, postoperatively, was collected up until July 2020.
The inclusion criteria consisted of: ⑴ only patients in the definite category of the MD, according to a diagnostic scale based on clinical criteria8; ⑵ patients who underwent medical therapy and lifestyle modifications for at least 6 months without improvement and who had more than 6 vertigo attacks for the last 6 months before the surgery; ⑶ patients who had a strong desire for surgery. The exclusion criteria were: (1) patients with intractable MD not responding to the inclusion criteria; and (2) patients with active mastoid or middle ear diseases.