Objective: The aim of this study was to compare subepithelial angiogenesis developing within the perimatrix of the cholesteatoma between pediatric and adult patients.
Methods: Sixty-one patients who underwent mastoidectomy for the first intent because of chronic otitis media with cholesteatoma between 1993 and 2013 and from whom appropriate tissue specimens were taken were included in the study. The patients were classified in the pediatric patient group if they were under the age of 18 years and the adult patient group if they were 18 years and older. Immunohistochemical staining for CD-31 was performed on new sections taken during surgery and sections prepared from archived tissues in paraffin blocks. Results were compared between the groups.
Results: A total of 61 patients, of whom 25 were pediatric and 36 were adult patients, were included in the study. The mean CD-31 immunopositive microvessel rates were 8.8 (3-15) and 6.61 (2-14) for the pediatric and adult patient groups, respectively. The difference between the groups was statistically significant (p=0.037). Correlation analysis showed a statistically significant negative correlation between the CD-31 immunopositive microvessel rates and age (p=0.036).
Conclusion: Subepithelial angiogenesis developing within the perimatrix of the cholesteatoma of the pediatric patients was more expressed than that of the adult patients.
Keywords: Angiogenesis; CD-31; cholesteatoma; pediatric.