Principal Investigator: Christopher J. Linstrom, M.D., Carol A. Silverman, Ph.D.

Enrollment: Clinical trials have been completed.

Objective: The eustachian tube has been implicated in the outcome of hearing reconstruction by tympanoplasty including surgical implantation of a middle-ear prosthesis that is, ossicular replacement prosthesis in chronic-ear disease. Therefore, the goal was to directly examine eustachian-tube status and function by transeustachian-tube flexible microfiberoptic endoscopy during hearing reconstruction surgery for chronic ear disease.

Overview: Patients comprised adults who received surgical ossicular replacement prosthesis implantation for chronic ear disease. Conventional audiologic assessment, otolaryngologic examination, and tympanometric inflation-deflation tests were performed preoperatively, postoperatively at the short-term follow-up (4-6 weeks), and postoperatively at the longer-term follow-ups (6 months and 1 year). Eustachian-tube endoscopy was performed to examine the status of the eustachian tube at the time of surgery. This work was supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs, New Jersey Health System under Contract No. V561P-2808. Co-Investigators for this study are A. Rosen and Lawrence Meiteles, MD.

Contact Information: Christopher Linstrom, M.D., (212) 979-4200

Selected Publications & Presentations:   

Linstrom CJ, Silverman CA, Rosen A, Meiteles LZ. (2001). Bone-conduction impairment in chronic ear disease. Annals of Otology, Rhinology, & Laryngology 2002 110:437-441. [Abstract]

Linstrom CJ, Silverman CA, Rosen A, Meiteles LZ. Eustachian-tube endoscopy in patients with chronic ear disease. Laryngoscope 2000 110:1884-1889. [Abstract]

Linstrom CJ, Silverman CA, Rosen A, Meiteles L. Eustachian-tube endoscopy in patients with chronic-ear disease. Paper presented at The Eastern Section of The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Pittsburgh, PA, January 2000.

TOP

Preliminary Results:

The 0.5-mm endoscope passed entirely through the eustachian tube, from the tympanic orifice into the pharyngeal orifice in only 16% of the cases. The eustachian-tube mucosa was abnormal in 64%. The mean therapeutic efficiency of ossicular reconstruction was higher for the subgroup with normal than abnormal eustachian-tube mucosa.

TOP