Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 17, 2026
CO2-Lasertonsillotomy Under Local Anesthesia in Adults
Published on: November 6, 2019
The efficacy of CO2 laser myringotomy in serous otitis media
Mete Kaan Bozkurt1, Mustafa Calgüner
1Department of Otolaryngology, Medicine Faculty of Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey. bozkurtmetekaan@hotmail.com
Objectives:
We evaluated the efficacy of CO2 laser myringotomy combined with adenoidectomy in children with serous otitis media (SOM) unresponsive to medical therapy and compared the recurrences in the follow-up period with the control group who underwent adenoidectomy and ventilation tube (VT) insertion.
Patients And Methods:
The CO2 laser myringotomy group included 25 children with a mean age of 5.6 years and there were 10 children with a mean age of 6.3 years in the VT control group. The laser used was a Sharplan 1030 CO2 laser, attached to Zeiss Universal S3 operation microscope with a 300 mm objective, using a Microspot optical delivery system.
Results:
The mean (+/-SD) healing time was 13 (+/-2.16) days in 4 ears with myringotomies less than 2 mm in diameter, and 25 (+/-2.34) days in 46 ears with myringotomies with 2 mm in diameter. During the 6-month follow-up period, there were 11 recurrences (22%) in the CO2 laser group and 4 recurrences (20%) in the control group, which was not statistically significant (p>0.05).
Conclusion:
We prefer laser myringotomy in SOM cases who do not need long-time middle ear ventilation; we use the ventilation tubes in cases with thick mucoid effusion and recurrent effusion after laser myringotomy.
