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Published on: January 22, 2010
The Role of Eustachian Tube Auto-Inflation in Radiation-Induced Otitis Media With Effusion
Jingqian Tan1, Guanzhu Shen2, Jianyan Wang1
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery.
Objective:
To investigate the efficacy of balloon Eustachian tuboplasty (BET) plus tympanostomy tube insertion (TTI) combined with Eustachian tube auto-inflation (ETA) in patients with radiation-induced otitis media with effusion (RI-OME) secondary to nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).
Study Design:
Prospective randomized controlled trial.
Setting:
Class A tertiary general hospital.
Patients:
Sixty-one patients with RI-OME with a follow-up for 12 months.
Interventions:
Patients were enrolled and randomly assigned to the control group (BET+TTI) and treatment group (BET+TTI+ETA).
Main Outcome Measures:
The efficacy was evaluated by Eustachian Tube Scores (ETS), Eustachian Tube Dysfunction Questionnaire (ETDQ-7), and hearing threshold. All patients were followed up at 1, 6, and 12 months post-surgery.
Results:
Both groups demonstrated significant postoperative improvements in ETS, ETDQ-7 scores, and hearing threshold compared with baseline values ( P <0.05), with maximal therapeutic effects observed at 6 months followed by gradual decline. Notably, the treatment group showed significantly greater improvements in all 3 parameters than the control group at 6-month and 12-month follow-up ( P <0.05).
Conclusions:
During the 12-month follow-up period, BET+TTI surgery demonstrated efficacy in improving both Eustachian tube function scores and hearing parameters in RI-OME patients, with adjunctive ETA therapy providing additional therapeutic enhancement.
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