Fig 1. Patient inclusion flow-chart
After the initial screening process and exclusion of non-eligible
patients, 139 eardrums were analysed in the study. Patients who could
not be contacted were excluded as it was not possible for them to be
informed of the study (ethical limitation). The initial screening
extracted all patients with perforations, thus patients with concurrent
cholesteatoma or retraction pockets had to be removed secondarily.