Blocked Ear

[doctormike]

Just DM'ed you, you should be able to respond.

 

[Scubagermany]

Peter Symes - the editor-in-chief and publisher of X-Ray Magazine - also has a good article about ET dilation in the last issue:

Equalising Ears: Eustachian Tube Balloon Dilation

Hi,
do you happen to have any recent data on complications due to the procedure.
I know that tinnitus occurs quite often after the dilation.
My significant other cannot dive due to a Eustachian tube malfunction.

 

[doctormike]

Hi,
do you happen to have any recent data on complications due to the procedure.
I know that tinnitus occurs quite often after the dilation.
My significant other cannot dive due to a Eustachian tube malfunction.

Sorry, I don't do the procedure myself, I don't know that...

Here's one article I found: Complications of eustachian tube balloon dilation: Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE) database analysis and literature review - PubMed

Fifty five full-length manuscripts involving 7155 patients were included and 98 complications reported for a 1.4% complication rate. The most frequently reported adverse events were subcutaneous emphysema of the head and neck (19%), epistaxis (12%), and acute otitis media (11%). The MAUDE search returned 18 distinct patient entries, of which 12 (67%) reported complications. The most reported complications in the MAUDE database included subcutaneous emphysema (8, 67%) and pneumomediastinum (3, 25%). The most serious complication was a carotid artery dissection reported in one patient in the MAUDE database.

I had heard about carotid artery injury - that is supposed to be extremely rare, and while I don't have the original paper in this meta-analysis, that may have been from the days before CT scans were routinely done prior to the dilation.

I had never heard about the subcutaneous emphysema (air in the soft tissue of the face/neck) or pneumomediastinum (air in the chest, between the lungs). That's concerning, but again 3 out of over 7000 patients, and I don't have the details of those cases...

Here's another meta analysis: Effect of balloon dilatation among adult population with eustachian tube dysfunction: a systematic review - PubMed

In this one, they say that "the incidence of complications was categorized as low and resolving spontaneously"