Conclusion
Endoscopic ear surgery is less painful and requires less analgesia in
the initial post-operative period than microscopic surgery in this
cohort. The overall results of this study are useful for pre-operative
patient counselling and pain management in the clinical setting. Given
the differing applications of microscopic and endoscopic ear surgery,
further research is required to study the influence of bone removal,
type of operation, and incision type on pain after ear surgery.
5 key points:
- Endoscopic ear surgery is often described as minimally invasive, an
advantage of which may be reduced pain
- We assessed patient reported pain scores between endoscopic and
microscopic ear surgery within the first week post-operatively
- Pain scores related to endoscopic ear surgery were lower than those
related to microscopic ear surgery in our cohort
- At day one, analgesia requirements were lower in the endoscopic ear
surgery group than the microscopic ear surgery group
- Due to the differing applications of endoscopic and microscopic ear
surgery, further research is required to study the influence of
operation type, bone removal and incision type on pain after ear
surgery.