title: Long-term ventilation tubes: results of 726 insertions.
abstract: Patients with chronic or recurrent otitis media with effusion who do not respond to treatment with conventional ventilation tubes are often treated with long-term ventilation tubes. The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the extrusion and complication rates of long-term ventilation tubes. The median ventilation time of the tubes was 31.5 months. The most common complication was otorrhoea. One episode of otorrhoea occurred after 24% of all tube insertions, and recurrent otorrhoea occurred in 29%. A persisting perforation developed in 19% after extrusion or removal of the tube. Other, mostly minor, complications occurred in 36% with the tube in situ and in 3% after extrusion or removal of the tube. Long-term ventilation tubes provided prolonged ventilation of the middle ear, but also resulted in a considerable number of complications. For each individual case, one should therefore determine whether the advantages of long-term ventilation tubes outweigh the possible complications in view of the available alternatives for middle ear ventilation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Medical Center Nijmegen, The Netherlands. N.vanHeerbeek@kno.azn.nl
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Van Heerbeek
authors.forename: G M A C
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: De Saar
authors.forename: J J S
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Mulder
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004868:Equipment Failure; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008875:Middle Aged; D008876:Middle Ear Ventilation / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000295:instrumentation; D010034:Otitis Media with Effusion / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies