TABLE I.

Patient and Tympanic Membrane Characteristics for All Specimens.

Patient no.	Laterality	Age at Tympanoplasty (yr)	Age at Death (yr)	Duration of Reconstructed TM (yr)	Mean Specimen Thickness (μm)	Standard Deviation (μm)
Temporalis Fascia Reconstructed Tympanic Membrane Cases
1	Left	11	19	8	170.7*	52.5
2	Left	59	87	28	142.5	76.0
3	Right	50	62	12	266.0	5.8
Mean				16	195.1	74.8
Preimplantation Temporalis Fascia Controls
1					219.5	61.2
2					144.5	40.6
3					467.7	171.7
4					166.3	35.7
Mean					234.9	144.9
Normal Tympanic Membrane Controls
1	Left		30		46.8	3.0
2	Right		90		93.5	53.8
3	Right		89		67.2	13.2
4	Right		77		84.5	56.8
5	Left		77		126.3	19.3
Mean					83.7	42.4

^*In patient 1, the anterior angle within the mesotympanic section of the reconstructed TM was significantly thickened, consistent with postoperative blunting. Therefore, measurements from this area of the TM were excluded so as not to bias the results.

TM = tympanic membrane.