Facial nerve dehiscence
Among the 20 patients (10.42%) with suspected facial fissure, 12 were EES group and 8 were MES group. Intraoperatively, the incidence of facial nerve dehiscence (26 cases) caused by the cholesteatoma matrix was 13.54%. There was no significant difference between EES group with 14 facial nerve defects and MES group with 12 facial nerve defects (P=0.673). Among them, the symptoms of all cases with suspected facial nerve fissure on CT were confirmed during operation.