title: Tympanostomy tubes and early post-operative otorrhea.
abstract: Otorrhea is a recognized complication of tympanostomy tube insertion. This may be caused by external contamination or by the pre-existing conditions in the middle ear cleft. Some surgeons try to reduce the risk of surgical contamination by using a non-touch technique, never allowing the gloved hand to come into contact with the tympanostomy tube. A prospective study was carried out on 66 children to evaluate the efficacy of the non-touch technique. One tympanostomy tube was inserted by the non-touch method with the contralateral ear acting as a touched control in each patient. Postoperative otorrhea occurred within 10 days in 1.67% of the non-touch ears and in 1.67% of the controls. This study demonstrates a low incidence of otorrhea in the early post-operative period with either technique. Time-consuming and costly sterile precautions are unnecessary for this common procedure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, National Children's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Kinsella
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fenton
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Donnelly
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: McShane
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008876:Middle Ear Ventilation / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods*; D010034:Otitis Media with Effusion / Q000601:surgery; D010035:Otitis Media, Suppurative / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011446:Prospective Studies