3.3 Tympanic membrane atrophy thinning
Five patients in the ITD group developed tympanic membrane atrophy thinning. However, no tympanic membrane atrophy thinning was observed in ITL group which made a significant difference compared with ITD group (p = 0.018). We made a detailed observation of tympanic membrane atrophy thinning through ear endoscopy and found the lesions were all located at the puncture site of the tympanic membrane in the anterior and lower quadrant of the tympanic membrane. Moreover, the tympanic membrane showed increased transparency, more shiny and looked thinner, and local capillary dilatation was visible(Figure 1a showed a patient with tympanic membrane atrophy thinning after ITD , Figure 1b showed the patient‘s normal tympanic membrane on the right side).Among the 5 patients, 2were in the ITD1 group and the remaining 3 were in the ITD2 group. There was no significant difference in incidence between patients who used 5mg/ml of dexamethasone and those who used 2mg/ml. No perforation of tympanic membrane or fungal or bacterial infection occurred in these cases during treatment.