A Study of Surgical Complications of Ventilation Tube Insertion in Children in Central Iran

Middle ear inflammation and fluid accumulation are one of the most common childhood diseases. Untreated or chronic ear inflammation can lead to more serious complications, including hearing loss, eardrum rupture, adhesive otitis media, tympanosclerosis, temporal bone necrosis, and cholesteatoma. Ventilation tube insertion is one of the best treatments to cure these diseases.

This aimed to observe children suffering from ear inflammation who were candidates for VT insertion surgery and study surgical complications.

A historical cohort study was performed, and 205 VT surgeries were studied. Demographic information of children (like age, sex, and family medical history) was gathered through their medical records and probable complications, including otorrhea, tympanosclerosis, atrophy, and eardrum rupture were noticed through medical examinations and interviews. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square test, independent t-test, Fisher’s exact, and Mann-Whitney U-test.

The results showed that 57% of surgery cases were boys, and 43% were girls, both having no family medical history. Serous otitis with tonsillar hypertrophy was reported in 200 cases (97.6%), which had concurrent adenoidectomy or adenotonsillectomy. The frequency of otorrhea, tympanosclerosis, atrophy, perforation, and serous otitis recurrence was 2%, 12.2%, 6.8%, 1.5%, and 14.1%, respectively. Serous otitis recurrence was reported in 3.9% of cases with T-tube insertion.

The findings of this study show no significant difference in surgical complications between the two groups of girls and boys. But studying the relationship between the age of patients and the timing of surgery shows that the mean age of girls is significantly higher.