Long-term ventilation tubes: results of 726 insertions.

Patients with chronic or recurrent otitis media with effusion who do not respond to treatment with conventional ventilation tubes are often treated with long-term ventilation tubes. The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the extrusion and complication rates of long-term ventilation tubes. The median ventilation time of the tubes was 31.5 months. The most common complication was otorrhoea. One episode of otorrhoea occurred after 24% of all tube insertions, and recurrent otorrhoea occurred in 29%. A persisting perforation developed in 19% after extrusion or removal of the tube. Other, mostly minor, complications occurred in 36% with the tube in situ and in 3% after extrusion or removal of the tube. Long-term ventilation tubes provided prolonged ventilation of the middle ear, but also resulted in a considerable number of complications. For each individual case, one should therefore determine whether the advantages of long-term ventilation tubes outweigh the possible complications in view of the available alternatives for middle ear ventilation.