INTRODUCTION: Ethicon, Gelfoam and Lyostyp are three kinds of supporters that are made of collagen. They are used in otologic surgery as a base-suport to grafts. Some procedures demand a bigger permanence of support, others need a rapid absortion. There is not studies to prove the differences among this three kinds of supporters. The subject this study was measure the difference of absortion among three supporters. STUDY DESIGN: Experimental. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We used 124 fragments of supporters measuring 5 X 5 X 1 mm. The fragments was placed in Petry's plaques with Agar-agar (62 open and 62 closed plaques) inside a stove warmed to 37º C. Each case plaque received 1 ml of total blood and each control plaque received 1 ml of 0,9% NaCl in the days 1, 7 and 14. The area measurement was done in a period of three weeks using a paquimeter with diary measurements in the first week and afterthat each 48 hours. The sample-size was determinated by the maximum capacity of stove. Statistics analisis was done using the SPSS 8.0 software, through repeated variance measurements. RESULTS: There was not difference between blood and 0,9% NaCl in the area measurements. In closed plaques, was not statistic differences between Gelfoam and Ethicon (p=0,21), but Lyostyp absortion was statistical different from the other two supporters (p=0,001 and p=0,006). In opened plaques, was not significative differences among the three kinds of supporters (p>0,05).
collagen; chronic otitis media; otologic surgery
