Opening plugged tympanostomy tubes: effect of inner diameter and shaft length.

Abstract

To determine whether tympanostomy tube (TT) inner diameter or shaft length impacts the rate of mucoid plug clearance. Ex vivo model. Silicone TTs with different inner-diameters (ID) and shaft-length (SL) pairings (1.14 mm ID x 12 mm SL versus 1.14 mm ID x 1 mm SL; 1.14 mm ID x 4.8 mm SL versus 1.32 mm ID x 4.8 mm SL) were plugged with middle-ear mucus (n = 15 per group) and placed in a model ear chamber. Ofloxacin otic solution was instilled into the chamber to cover the plugged TT, and the time to clearance of each plug was recorded. TTs with larger IDs ( P = 0.019) and greater SLs ( P = 0.033) cleared plugs more rapidly. However, the difference in the percentage of tubes that unplugged was not significant ( P = 0.151). Rate of ex vivo TT plug clearance may be altered by changing TT ID and SL.