Eustachian Tube Balloon Dilation

[UCFKnightDiver]

Hi all,

I have always had a bit of difficulty with equalizing my left ear, which often occurs in the middle of a dive. I also cave dive which as you can imagine is sometimes a problem, as ascending is not always an option as you are at the mercy of the contours of the cave and have to descend sometimes (I never have reverse squeezes). I am currently seeing an ENT and he suggested I may be a good candidate for the Eustacian Tube Balloon Dilation procedure. I'm curious about other people's experience with this procedure. Did it help your equalization issues?

I have read a hand full of medical articles on the procedure and it seems like it's about 85% effective in improving ability to equalize through the different studies and that it is low risk. Being that it's a relatively new procedure, I'm interested if anyone has come across information on long-term efficacy of the procedure. There was one article that I came across that looked at results at the 2+yr mark post surgery that still suggested good outcomes.

Finally, for those that had the procedure, how long did you need to wait post-procedure till you could dive again? My ENT suggested 6 weeks.

 

[maadJurguer]

Very interested in this....long time sufferer...

 

[UCFKnightDiver]

Mods, can you move this thread to the main Diving Physics, Physiology, and Medicine forum? Meant to post it there originally

 

[dorsal]

Following. A friend gave up diving because he had a really hard time equalizing.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Paging @doctormike , our resident ENT.

 

[doctormike]

I don't do it myself (I'm a pediatric ENT, so not much call for it in my practice), but I did take the class from the device manufacturer and tried it on a cadaver. It seems like a fairly simple and safe procedure, and there are selected patients who get good results.

On the other hand, the few potential complications (patulous Eustachian tube, autophony, etc..) might be something to ask your ENT doc about.

Also, make sure that this just isn't a technique issue. Many people who feel that they have ET opening issues turn out to be able to equalize reliably once they find the right procedure. Here are a few to try.

 

[Brant Emery]

I very nice read, lots of good suggestions. Thanks Mike.

 

[doctormike]

I very nice read, lots of good suggestions. Thanks Mike.

Sure, here's my recently updated page on ear problems with diving...

 

[UCFKnightDiver]

I went ahead and had this procedure done yesterday. It was a little painful - done under local anesthetic - but I got through it. Out of the water for six weeks. I'm a little worried about patulous eustachian tube (always open) which is supposed to be really bothersome, but I'm told it's very low risk. Had to pay out of pocket as Aetna wouldn't cover the procedure, cost was $3800 for just the left ear. Doing pretty well so far this morning. I'll try to report back as I recover.

 

[rsingler]

Whoa! Local anesthesia!
At their request, I give general anesthesia for my ENT's who do this procedure, and see a good bump in blood pressure when they inflate the balloon. It's pretty stimulating to the system.
Not sure I'd agree to local if I needed a dilatation, but then, I trust my partner anesthesiologists.

Diving Doc