Tympanoplasty With or Without Balloon Eustachian Tuboplasty for Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media With Obstructive Eustachian Tube Dysfunction.

OBJECTIVE

To further elucidate the role of balloon Eustachian tuboplasty (BET) in tympanoplasty, we conducted a study to compare the outcomes of tympanoplasty with and without BET for the treatment of chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) with obstructive Eustachian tube dysfunction (OETD).

STUDY DESIGN

Case control study.

SETTING

Tertiary referral center.

PATIENTS

A total of 70 ears diagnosed with CSOM (tubotympanic type) and OETD were included in this study. Thirty-five patients were prospectively enrolled for BET and tympanomastoidectomy between February 2018 and June 2019. Thirty-five control subjects were matched by sex and age and retrospectively enrolled for tympanomastoidectomy between July 2016 and January 2018.

INTERVENTIONS

BET, tympanomastoidectomy.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The graft take rate, hearing levels, and Eustachian tube function test results.

RESULTS

The graft take success rate was higher in the BET group (80.0%; 28/35) than in the control group (68.6%; 24/35). However, the difference was not statistically significant. The average air-bone gap (ABG) improvement was 10.93 ± 7.70 dB in the BET group and 7.11 ± 8.08 dB in the control group, with a statistically significant between-group difference (p = 0.033).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that BET can objectively and subjectively improve the Eustachian tube function, with a slight but significant improvement in ABG despite the lack of a clinically significant improvement overall. However, it does not affect the graft take rate. In summary, BET could be used as an adjunctive procedure in the treatment of CSOM with OETD.