A mastoidectomy is a procedure performed to remove the mastoid air cells air bubbles in the skull, near the inner ears. This can be done as part of treatment for mastoiditis, chronic suppurative otitis media or cholesteatoma. In addition, it is sometimes performed as part of other procedures (cochlear implant) or for access to the middle ear.

Radical mastoidectomy while maintaining the posterior and superior canal wall which reminds the reader of the Canal Wall Up Mastoidectomy. However, the difference is historical. Modified radical mastoidectomy typically refers to Bondy’s procedure which involves treating disease affecting only the epitympanum. Diseased areas as well as portions of the adjacent superior and posterior canal are simply exteriorised without affecting the uninvolved middle ear. The structures are preserved to reconstruct hearing mechanism at the time of surgery or in second-stage operation.

In Modified Mastoidectomy the mastoid and middle ear cavities are exteriorized so as not to give the chance for the infection or the cholesteatoma for that matter to spread into the middle cranial fossa. Since the cavities are exteriorized further inspection and cleaning could be done regularly