Comparative study of the effectiveness of the surgical technique with and without preservation of the conchal cartilage in otoplasty through the measure of the cephalo-auricular and scapho-conchal angles.

Objectives: Prominent ear abnormalities affect 5% of the population. A prospective, double-blind study of patients who underwent otoplasty procedures to correct these abnormalities was conducted to compare two surgical techniques. They diverge by the preservation or not of conchal cartilage.

Methods: The two techniques were compared by measuring the cephalo-auricular and scapho-conchal angles. Measurements were performed in pre and 6-months post-operative periods using alginate molding. Twenty patients were randomly assigned to two groups (with and without cartilage preservation) with 10 participants each. Student's t-test, Covariance Analysis Model (ANCOVA), and non-parametric Mann-Whitney were used in the statistical analyses.

Results: A significant reduction in the average of the cephalo-auricular and scapho-conchal angles was observed in both surgical procedures (p<0.001). However, no significant difference was found between them (p=0.887).

Conclusion: The two techniques analyzed in this study fulfilled their objectives. Therefore, further comparative studies are needed to confirm the superiority of one over the other.

Level I: Evidence obtained from at least one properly designed randomized controlled trial.