title: Permanent mastoid vent: a new treatment for persistent eustachian tube obstruction.
abstract: To date, there is no satisfactory treatment for persistent eustachian tube blockage or negative pressure in the middle ear. Conventional ventilation tubes are usually either occluded or extruded with time. A new treatment of percutaneous mastoid vent provides permanent ventilation to the middle ear cleft without putting a tube through the eardrum. A titanium tube is inserted through the skin into the mastoid antrum using the established technique of osseo-integration and hence becomes truly permanent. It can also be connected to a CPAP machine to re-inflate a collapsed eardrum. Initial trials consist of six vents inserted and followed up for 6-16 months. There was no sign of extrusion or a foreign body reaction. However, an inner Teflon tube is essential to keep the vent patent for permanent ventilation to the middle ear cleft.
authors.affiliation: Ipswich Hospital, Suffolk, UK.
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Yung
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D005064:Eustachian Tube; D006801:Humans; D008876:Middle Ear Ventilation / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene; D014025:Titanium
chemical_list: D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene; D014025:Titanium