Implications of Laser Assisted Tympanostomy in Adults

Abstract

Laser-assisted tympanostomy without ventilation tubes provides a safe alternative surgical option in adult patients in certain cases. The selection criteria for this procedure are addressed in detail.

Differences between children and adults with otitis media with effusion treated with CO2 laser myringotomy

“…10,13,26,29 However, little is known about prognostic factors for LAT in adult-onset OME. 30 In our series, we confirmed that several variables are not related to treatment outcome, as shown in previous publications, namely, age, sex, and season. However, we also found that disease duration and history of allergy and/or sinusitis had no impact on treatment efficacy in our study, although these factors have previously been described as being predictive of outcome.…”

“…However, most previous publications have focused on children, 7,8,10e12,25e29 and only a few studies have examined both children and adults. 13,30 Further, there is no general agreement about the indications for this treatment and prognostic factors. Significant predictors of LAT outcome in children have been shown to include allergic rhinitis, sinusitis, exposure to smoking, disease duration, eardrum condition, mucous fluid, and adenoidectomy.…”

New therapeutic strategy for treating otitis media with effusion in postirradiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients

“…Unfortunately, simple tympanic aspiration and incisional myringotomy provide no meaningful therapeutic effects due to their short healing times of only 1e2 days. 3,4 On the other hand, ventilation tube insertion may cause adverse effects, such as tube otorrhea which has an incidence that varies from 29e64%. 5e7 Thus, conventional approaches often fail to provide satisfactory relief of otologic symptoms.…”

Strategies for the Management of Post-Irradiation Otitis Media with Effusion

“…We observed that the use of LMIS for the artificial creation of ventilation can last up to 6.5 weeks (range 1-24 weeks). The duration for transtympanic ventilation is much longer in patients with LMIS compared with those with simple tympanic aspiration and incisional myringotomy (1-2 days) [6,7,11]. In fact, a three-week period is regarded as the shortest time adequate for transtympanic ventilation [8,14,15].…”

“…Treatments of choice for post-irradiation OME include simple tympanic aspiration, incisional myringotomy, and ventilation tube insertion (VTI) [5]. However, the effects of simple tympanic aspiration and incisional myringotomy over short durations of 1-2 days are largely non-meaningful due to the high recurrence rate of OME [6][7][8]. Thus, some clinicians view VTI as the most viable treatment modality.…”