Ear Tube Surgery in Children

A new study shows that most infants and children who undergo ear tube surgery have hearing levels comparable to normal children 14 years later.

Recurrent ear infections (otitis media) with accumulated fluid are the main reason for the insertion of ventilation tubes in the ear. Minor surgery to drain the ear and insert the tubes in the ear is the most common surgical procedure among young children. Instant improvement in hearing is one of the beneficial effects and may be associated with long-term reduction in risk of subsequent language, educational, and developmental impairments.

Hannu Valtonen, M.D., Ph.D. of Kuopio University Hospital (Kuopio, Finland), and colleagues reported on the results of checkups 14 years after surgery for 237 children who had tubes inserted to treat ear infections at the age of five to 16 months. They found that the hearing level of healed ears was comparable to that of age-matched normal ears. "Ear surgery, which sometimes becomes necessary, is not hazardous for hearing, as such, but in the case of chronic middle ear infection may be insufficient to retain normal hearing or restore it to normal levels,” the authors wrote.

At the 14 years' followup, 74.7% of the children's ears had healed. The number of abnormal outcomes was 34.2%. Abnormal outcomes were more common when the child had an ear infection with accumulated fluid or had required three or more tube insertions. The authors concluded that the surgery was a safe and useful treatment.

"Parents should be informed of the long follow-up, of the possible need for repeated tube insertion, and of potential sequelae that sometimes necessitate surgical intervention. Patients healed after five years do not need further follow-up,” concluded the authors, whose work was reported in the April 2005 issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.




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