Plastic Ventilation Tubes and Their Impact on Middle Ear Pathology

Abstract

Otitis and middle ear disease present high morbidity rates in spite of current medical treatment, especially in the younger population. Otitis media with effusion (OME) is a chronic disease that is often found in school age children. Its evolution, recurrence, complications and resolution still present a challenge to otologists. For some time, middle ear ventilation tubes were used for this pathology, thus assuring proper middle ear ventilation and higher disease resolution rates. In the current paper, we investigate the connection between ventilation tube usage, the materials out of which they are made, the techniques involved and how these factors may influence disease resolution rates.