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Stijn J. C. van der Avoort, MD, PhD; Niels van Heerbeek, MD, PhD; Gerhard A. Zielhuis, PhD; Cor W. R. J. Cremers, MD, PhD

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2009;135(5):448-452.

Objectives  To test the outcome of sonotubometric measurement in children with otitis media with effusion (OME) before and after insertion of ventilation tubes.

Design  Eustachian tube ventilatory function was tested in children with OME. To test validity, sonotubometric testing took place before insertion of ventilation tubes (ie, glue ear) and 1 week and 3 months after grommet insertion (ie, aerated middle ear cavity). One set of measurements consisted of 10 acts of swallowing. The outcomes of the tests were compared with those in otologically healthy controls.

Settings  All testing took place during an outpatient clinic otorhinolaryngologic consultation in a city hospital.

Patients  Thiry-three children with OME and 61 otologically healthy children (controls).

Interventions  Surgical grommet insertion.

Main Outcome Measures  Sonotubometric measurements before and after insertion of ventilation tubes.

Results  Fewer incidences of the opening of the eustachian tube were recorded in the measurements before insertion of ventilation tubes compared with after insertion. The number of incidences of opening recorded after insertion of ventilation tubes did not significantly differ from measurements in healthy controls.

Conclusions  Sonotubometric testing in children with OME reveals a low incidence of eustachian tube opening. Shortly after insertion of ventilation tubes, sonotubometry revealed no difference in eustachian tube ventilatory function compared with measurements in healthy controls. The low incidence of eustachian tube opening before grommet insertion may be attributable to decreased opening or dampening of the sound transmission by the middle ear fluid.

Author Affiliations: Departments of Otorhinolaryngology (Drs van der Avoort, van Heerbeek, and Cremers) and Epidemiology and Biostatistics (Dr Zielhuis), Nijmegen Medical Centre, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

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