Laryngopharyngeal reflux as a potential cause of Eustachian tube dysfunction in patients with otitis media with effusion

Abstract

ObjectiveTo explore the association between laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPRD)-related symptoms and the Eustachian tube (ET) function in adult patients with otitis media with effusion (OME).Materials and methodsA total of 105 adult patients with OME were retrospectively studied. All these patients had undergone tubomanometry (TMM) test for the affected ears before treatments. The LPRD-related symptoms were all assessed by the Reflux Symptom Index (RSI) scale.ResultsAmong the 105 included patients, the numbers of subjects with only one and both two ears affected were 65 (57.1%) and 40 (42.9%), respectively. Therefore, a total of 145 affected ears were studied. For these affected ears, a linear regression analysis that included sex, age, BMI, smoking history, drinking history, RSI value, and the condition of the contralateral ear suggested that only RSI value was significantly associated with TMM value (P < 0.001), with the correlation coefficient of −0.112. Among the 9 symptoms in RSI scale, affected ears with the following symptoms (vs. affected ears without) showed significantly lower TMM values: excess throat mucus or postnasal drip, difficulty swallowing food, liquids, or pills, and sensations of something stuck in your throat or a lump in your throat (all P < 0.05).ConclusionLPRD may disrupt ET function in adult OME patients. A higher RSI score is independently predictive for a bad ET patency in such patients and is indicative for an additional anti-reflux therapy.

A Case Report on Ground-Level Alternobaric Vertigo Due to Eustachian Tube Dysfunction With the Assistance of Conversational Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT)

“…Laryngoscopy also revealed that the patient had ETD associated with LPR. These findings emphasize the significance of looking into LPR as a possible cause of ETD and its symptoms [13][14][15]. On the other hand, ETD can cause negative or positive pressure in the middle ear, which makes the autonomic nervous system let acid back up into the throat.…”

Spotlight on: Nature, assessment, and management of laryngopharyngeal reflux

“…A study of individuals with BMS identified that 94% of them had LPR, and that their BMS significantly improved following LPR treatment . Zhen et al (2022) describe otitis media with effusion (OME) as fluid in the middle ear. Symptoms include earache, ear fullness, hearing loss, and tinnitus.…”

Personalized Treatments Based on Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Patient Profiles: A Narrative Review

“…In clinical practice, oropharyngeal pH monitoring could be an interesting diagnostic approach for the detection of nasopharyngeal reflux events. Indeed, the gastric content of pharyngeal reflux events may reach the sinonasal mucosa, Eustachian tube, and tears, which is associated with dry eyes, otitis media, Eustachian tube dysfunction, dry nasal mucosa, nasal crusts, or mulberry turbinate (Figure 4) [87][88][89][90]. Because there is no nasopharyngealhypopharyngeal-esophageal impedance-pH monitoring probe available in the market, the placement of oropharyngeal-pH monitoring sensors in the nasopharynx may be used to confirm nasopharyngeal reflux disease in such patients [91].…”