1 Department of Otorhinolaryngology, National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, Goyang, South Korea;
2 Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
Introduction:
– Patulous Eustachian tube (PET) causes troublesome autophony. Patulous Eustachian tube (PET) patients suffer from troublesome aural symptoms such as autophony of voice or breathing sounds. The purpose of this study is to determine the feasibility of endoscopic transtympanic cartilage plug insertion over results performed by microscope.
Methods:
– Study Design: Retrospectove case review
– Setting: Tertiary referral center
– Patients : Between July 2017 and December 2018, 29 ears of 24 patients with PET disorder were included.
– Intervention: Therapeutic
Discussion:
– Main Outcome Measures: Technique refinements, Treatment outcomes, including PET questionnaire, autophony symptom score, rate of otitis media.
– Results: All ears showed immediate complete relief of autophony symptoms. At the last follow-up, 21 ears kept satisfactory improvement. The PET symptom questionnaire showed a marked reduction in both autophony and breathing sound conduction scores. There were no differences in outcome, complication rate, and operation time between microscope and endoscope.
– Conclusion: Both microscopic and endoscopic transtympanic cartilage plugging into the Eustachian tube provides safe and satisfactory results for the treatment of PET. Moreover, endoscopic approach enables clearer and magnified surgical view for manipulating Eustachian tube compared with microscopic surgery.