Which children would benefit most from tympanostomy tubes (grommets)? A personal evidence-based review

Adenoidectomy plus tympanostomy tube insertion versus adenoidectomy plus myringotomy in children with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome

“…9 Although tympanostomy tube insertion improves the quality of life of children with OME, 10 some researchers 9 have suggested that a restriction of operative criteria is necessary due to the procedure's possible adverse effects.…”

The Galker test of speech reception in noise; associations with background variables, middle ear status, hearing, and language in Danish preschool children

“…Children with OME are now extensively managed and treated with ventilation tubes on the basis of an assumed reduced access to real life speech without these tubes. However, this approach involves a risk of both over-treatment and under-treatment [4]. The Galker test appears to be a promising, supplementary tool to which resort may be made to inform the decision of how to manage these children.…”

“…The effect of the hearing loss often accompanying otitis media with effusion (OME) on children's development has been a focus of intensive research, and the results of this research are diverging [1][2][3][4]. A minor hearing loss accompanying OME may be debilitating to one child, but not to another.…”

“…Research indicates that appraisal of speech reception in noise is useful for evaluating the effect of OME on auditory function [7,8] and for identifying those children who may benefit from OME surgery [4,9]. In the light of these circumstances and inspired by the principles of the TADAST test, the Danish Galker test of speech reception in noise was developed [10,11].…”

Insertion of ventilation (tympanostomy) tubes for otitis media with effusion

“…Even in socialised health care in the absence of income incentives, overintervention for otitis media occurs. 8 In the UK, the intervention rate has been declining for 15 years and is below that seen in most developed countries. 9 In the absence of any single control mechanism with sanctions, the specialised training and healthcare management systems in the UK seem to have multiple informal ways to apply healthcare research, and the recent change in the climate of educated professional opinion has been towards gearing activity more appropriately.…”