TECA (total ear canal ablation)/Ablación del canal auditivo

TECA needs general anaesthesia

TECA, or Total Ear Canal Ablation, is a common surgical solution to chronic ear problems in most pets and some breeds. Shar pei's owners do know how stressful a dog with chronic otitis can become. 

Some breed of dogs are very prone to get this infections, due to their anatomy. The narrower the canal, the more likely to retain debris, yeasts and bacterias, the more difficult to treat with ear drops, and once we have a chronic infection, treating it is a challenge.

This month's case is a middle age, male shar pei whose owners agreed in surgically removing the "inner walls" of his ear canals. Thus, both the infective and inflammated tissue is removed, his ear canals are enlarged and further infections are more unlikely to sit again (read more).

Before starting the procedure, an ear sample is taken for an antibiogram in a laboratory. 

A surgical approach to the external ear as a therapeutic procedure, by opening, exposing, draining and flushing the "timpanic bullae" or compartment behind the eardrum where infection built up and is kept. Eardrum and the little ear bones are also removed.

This surgery took over two hours to be performed. The dog was sent home the same day, and left the surgery walking on his own. At home he would receive antibiotics and pain relief/antiinflammatory tablets, revising his medication and wound throughout the next couple of weeks. 

Although there are more benefits than risks in peforming this aggressive treatment, the quality of life, before and after it, as well as the "miraculous" rejuvenation in our pets makes this procedure a best option to such complex problem.

Some of the most common post operation complications are: 

• Facial paralysis. That is, the dog is unable to gesticulate. Most of the times it is a temporal issue due to the inflammation in the area that is compressing the facial nerve, responsible of the facial muscular movement.
• Chronic drainage from the incision in the timpanic bullae, very likely due to some residual cels or tissues left behind, a salivary gland was affected during surgery, or the dog just produce more fluid that can be drained (fluid coming from the Eustachian tube that connects throat and ear)
  
• deafness, normally temporal for as long as the inflammation remains. However, if hearing issues were present before surgery, it is very unlikely that the ear canal ablation will solve the hearing impairment.

I hope this post has been useful for those dealing with a pet with chronic ear infection.

Recommended web page for further info: Ear canal ablation and bulla osteotomy. For a more technical source, visit surgical TECA
For a link to a video, click here.