Effectiveness of adenoidectomy on tympanostomy tubes retention duration

Background: The children with middle ear effusion need repeated re-tympanostomies. Adenoidectomy is an effective surgical intervention in the management of chronic otitis media with effusion in conjunction with insertion of tympanostomy tubes (TTs). To find out whether TTs in different positions decrease the rate of retympanostomies study was done. Methods: The present study retrospectively evaluated the effectiveness of adenoidectomy on retention of Shepard TTs in antero-inferior quadrant (AIQ) and postero-inferior quadrant (PIQ) with chronic, persistent or recurrent otitis media. Eighty-five children (one-hundred and seventy ears) underwent bilateral myringotomy and TTs placement with and without adenoidectomy with informed consent. Results: According to the TTs retention duration rate, there was a significant difference between adenoidectomy and non-adenoidectomy groups in AIQ. Conclusion: It was concluded that TTs placement in the AIQ in conjunction with adenoidectomy showed better improvement and prolonged ventilation. This study suggests that adenoidectomy is an effective surgical intervention in the management of otitis media especially when it is performed in conjunction with insertion of TTs. This significantly decreases tube extrusion rate especially in an AIQ, which might be due to improving eustachian tube function that consequently reduces repeated otitis media.