THE INDICATIONS FOR TYMPANOMASTOID EXENTERATION IN ABSENCE OF SYMPTOMS OF INTRACRANIAL COMPLICATIONS

The prime indication for evisceration in chronic tympanic suppuration is the confidence of the surgeion that he will thereby make the condition safer and better. Hence, the personal equation of the operator is one of the major factors—his operative skill and facilities, together with his insight into the pathologic conditions and the therapeutic possibilities of less radical measures. Some men have not drilled themselves in the exhaustive application of the non-operative procedures or use them so half-heartedly that little can be expected from them: some patients are so intolerant of the tedious, painstaking, pains-giving procedures which alone can succeed in difficult cases that one must cut the Gordian knot rather than attempt to unravel its complexity.

For the field is very complex and difficult; and, while we can truly claim that every one of these patients can be cured by thorough