Tympanosclerosis and mini grommets: the relevance of grommet design

Fifty children with otitis media with effusion undergoing grommet insertion had into one ear a Mini-titanium grommet inserted and into the other ear a Mini-teflon grommet. Post-operative follow-up until after extrusion of the grommets demonstrated only a small difference between the extrusion times of the two grommets (a significant difference of 41 days) and no difference in the degree of tympanosclerosis seen with each grommet. We propose that the mass of a grommet appears to play less of a role than has previously been suggested in the pathogenesis of tympanosclerosis following grommet insertion and that duration of intubation may be the most significant factor.