[Complications in secretory otitis media treated with aeration-drainage tubes]

Nine hundred and twenty aeration-drainage tubes were implanted in 500 patients suffering from secretary otitis media. Besides visible improvement of the hearing in 85% of operated ears, the importance of some sooner or later complications should be pointed out. Usually this is intraoperative haemorrhage (50%). However tube obstruction (8%) or perception deafness were not rare. The importance of myringosclerosis (35%), and of the elimination of implant (12%) is emphasised. The appearance of postimplantation cholesteatoma and many other sooner or later complications are also analysed. The basic principles of microsurgical technique for the prevention of complications are enumerated.