Mongolian Gerbils as a Model for the Study of Cholesteatoma: Otoendoscopic as a Diagnostic Tool.

 Cholesteatoma is a disease with significant clinical impact but is incompletely understood. The challenge of performing studies with long-term follow-up in humans is a factor that has restricted the advance of knowledge in this field. Thus, the use of animal models is highly pertinent, and the Mongolian gerbil model has emerged as one of the most useful.

Experimental cholesteatoma: a comparison between spontaneous and induced models.

Objective: To compare the incidence and the histopathological aspect of spontaneous and two induced Mongolian gerbils' models of cholesteatoma: External Auditory Canal (EAC) obliteration model and the Auditory Tube (AT) cauterization model.

Methods: Fifty-four ears of 27 animals were divided into EAC obliteration, AT cauterization, and control groups and histologically assessed for cholesteatoma incidence and classification at intervals of 2, 4, 8, and 16 weeks.

Results: Cholesteatoma was diagnosed in 30 of the 53 ears evaluated with a significantly higher incidence in groups that received some type of intervention (p<0.