Endoscopic autologous cartilage injection for the patulous eustachian tube

Patulous eustachian tube (PET) can have a significant negative impact on a patient's quality of life. Several methods of surgical management can be an option to treat PET, and our objective is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of autologous cartilage injection in patients with PET. Thirty-three ears of twenty-five patients with chronic PET refractory to conservative treatment were enrolled to this study. Autologous tragal cartilage was harvested, and chopped into fine pieces to allow its injection using a 1 cc Bruening syringe. Endoscopic cartilage injection was performed submucosally into the anterior (0.5 mL) and posterior aspects (0.5 mL) of the nasopharyngeal ET under local anesthesia in an operating room. Patients were evaluated postoperatively by nasal endoscopy and by interview to document symptoms. Successful treatment was defined as complete relief or significant improvement plus satisfaction with treatment. The only complication that occurred was temporary otitis media with effusion in one ear. Inferior turbinate reduction was performed in three ears with accompanying nasal septal deviation or turbinate hypertrophy to allow better nasopharyngeal ET visualization. After autologous cartilage injection, the successful treatment rate, as determined by subjective autophony symptoms, was 69.7% (23/33). The average follow-up period was 25.2 months. Autologous cartilage injection is a minimally invasive technique that has been used by the authors to successfully treat patulous eustachian tube. The described procedure was found to provide a good overall success rate without long-term complications.