Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2002, 197 (2)

Effects of Topical Mitomycin on Inner Ear:
A Light and Electron Microscopic Study

HAKAN CANKAYA, EROL EGELI,¹ LEYLA KUNTSAL,² HANEFI OZBEK³ and MURAT ICLI

Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Medical Faculty, Yuzuncu Yil University,
¹Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Duzce Medical Faculty, Abant Izzet Baysal University,
²Department of Histology and Embryology, Istanbul Medical Faculty, Istanbul University,
³Department of Pharmacology, Medical Faculty, Yuzuncu Yil University, Turkey

Providing maintenance of myringotomy patency without use of ventilation tubes in the treatment of secretory otitis media has been one of the important study areas. For this reason, laser and Mitomycin C (MMC) are used together in experimental studies. But there has been no ultrastructural studies concerning whether leakage of MMC to middle ear during application of this procedure has an ototoxic effect or not and if so, to what extent. In this study, we searched the ultrastructural changes which occurred in the middle ear by direct applications of MMC to the middle ear for different time durations. The study was carried out over thirty adult guinea pigs without ear diseases. Bilateral myringotomy was performed and MMC was applied only to the right middle ear of each guinea pig. The first group received MMC once for 10 minutes, the second group received it once for 20 minutes, and the third group took it each day for 10 minutes during a one week period. The left ears of the samples were accepted as the control group. On the 8th day, sacrification was carried out. After electron and light microscopy examination, significant changes in the inner ear were observed in the third group though no significant change was observed for the first and the second groups. As a result it was concluded that the application of MMC to the middle ear once for a short duration causes no toxic effect on the inner ear.

Keywords —— mitomycin; secretory otitis media; myringotomy; ototoxicity; inner ear

© 2002 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2002, 197, 81-86

Address for reprints: Dr. Hakan Cankaya, Yuzuncu Yil University, Tip Fakultesi, Kulak Burun Bogaz Anabilim Dali, 65100 Van, Turkey.

e-mail: hcankaya2@hotmail.com