Effectiveness of Tympanostomy Tubes in Children With Auditory Tube Dysfunction

Introduction. In the modern world, we observe the rapid development pace of surgical technologies, on the one hand, and the existing eco-climatic factors that contribute to the increase in infectious and inflammatory diseases among the child population, on the other hand. All this contributes to the fact that surgical treatment of a pathology appears more effective along with conservative treatment. Aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of installing tympanostomy tubes in pediatric patients with symptoms of exudative otitis media and auditory tube dysfunction. Materials and Methods. The study included 38 children with symptoms of exudative otitis media and the auditory tube dysfunction. Research methods included endoscopic assessment of the nasal cavity and ears, tympanometry, and the 3D x-ray examination of the paranasal sinuses. All data obtained in the study was entered into Excel summary tables. After dividing the data into comparison groups, the group means and their standard errors were calculated. Dynamic comparisons were performed using paired Student’s t-test. Results and Discussion. In patients with bilateral shunting, subjective hearing recovery was observed, which was 75% of patients who could not undergo threshold audiometry; patients who underwent audiometry showed 60% complete hearing recovery and 40% recovery within 5-10 dB 1 month after surgery. Conclusions. In the group of patients with unilateral installation of shunts, it also showed high rates of hearing recovery. It is also worth noting that there are high rates of recurrence of an episode of otitis media after paracentesis without placement of tympanostomy tubes.