Immediate repair of the tympanic membrane to prevent persistent perforation after intentional removal of long-lasting tubes

Summary Objective Our purpose was to evaluate efficiency of immediate repair of the tympanic membrane perforation after intentional removal of the long-lasting tubes. Methods This study was done in 36 ears of 27 patients who had either Goode-T or Paparella-II silicone tube insertion due to chronic OME or ROM and tube removal. Only the ears in which tube removal was performed due to no longer need for middle ear ventilation were included to the study. After removal of the tube, the perforation edges were refreshed and Steri-Strip™ (3M) patch was adhered on the perforation site. Otoscopic, tympanometric and audiologic data were reported. Results Mean duration of the tube persistence was 49.58 ± 11.94 months. It was found that there were two subgroups in the study group: those under regular follow-up (20 ears), and the ears which were out of regular follow-up (16 ears). Mean tube persistence times were 34.10 and 52.11 months in these subgroups, respectively ( χ 2 -test, p  = 0.056). In six ears (16.67%), persistent perforation (PP) was found. PP rate (PPR) was higher in group-B (25%) than in group-A (10%) ( χ 2 -test, p  > 0.1). The rest perforation was anteriorly marginal in five of six PP (83.33%). The PPR in the ears in which rest perforation was anteriorly marginal was 35.71% (5/14) while it was 4.54% (1/22) in the ears with central rest perforation ( χ 2 -test, p Conclusions Even immediate repair of the perforation after removal of the long-lasting tubes resulted in a high PPR. The data in this study documented that this high PPR was associated with type and localisation of rest perforation and tube persistence time. Anteriorly, marginal perforations had about eight times higher risk of PP and longer tube persistence caused higher anterior marginal perforations after tube removal.