Results
One hundred nineteen (119) patients were enrolled in this study. Age at surgery ranged from 0.5 to 17 years, with a mean age of 10.6 ± 4.1 years (73.9% male and 26.1% female). Mean follow-up time was 28.3 + 42.6 days. Patients were divided into two (2) groups according to the use of MPD following mastoidectomy surgery – ninety-one (91) patients in the MPD group and twenty-eight (28) patients in the NMPD group. Among the former, mastoidectomy due to cholesteatoma was performed on 83 of 91 patients (91.2%); among the latter, mastoidectomy due to cholesteatoma was performed on 24 of 28 patients (85.7%), p=0.8.
All 119 surgeries were successful. As shown in Table 1 , the mean length of stay was 2.1 ± 2.8 days, with no significant difference between the groups, while demographic and medical characteristics were also quite similar. There were no postoperative mortalities and no documented cases of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak, brain abscess, or deafness.
Regarding minor complications, there were no significant differences between the groups (P=0.47). In the MPD group, five (5) patients had a minor wound dehiscence, of which three (3) experienced SSI, while five (5) other patients developed SSI as a single complication. One (1) patient presented a keloid scar in the long follow up. In the NMPD group, one (1) patient had a SSI and another developed retroarticular swelling several hours after the surgery due to a local hematoma, which required a return to the operating room to identify the source of the bleeding and achieve hemostasis. Two to four weeks following surgery, no seromas, erythema, scalp folliculitis, bruising, ulcers, or skin necrosis were found in either group. With respect to major complications, neither group presented meningitis or facial paralysis (Table 2 ). As regards VAS values recorded the night of surgery and several hours before the head dressing was removed, patients in the NMPD group reported slightly better scores with a significant difference between the groups (0.8 ± 1.6 and 1.9 ± 2.4, respectively), p=0.02(Figure 3) .