Eustachian Tube Dilation Surgery

[seal]

Hey guys,

as some of you may know, I underwent ET surgery almost a week ago.
So here comes my small FAQ for those of you with ETD.

Why?
-> because I had an almost constant really uncomfortable pressure feeling in my ears which sometimes led to my T being much louder. It was super bothersome and nasal sprays didn't help me on the long run.

Where and How?
-> Hospital, had to stay for 2 nights. They use a balloon usually used for heart surgery to widen the tubes.
Surgery took around 40 min and is performed under general anesthesia.

Pain? T louder? side effects?
-> No pain, T stayed the same, neither the general anesthesia, nor the medication or the swelling made my T worse.
Side effects: Swelling in the nose, hard to breathe at first, but it constantly gets better. Except for that, I still feel a little bit tired from the surgery but that's about it. Besides I am on sick leave for 2 weeks now, so I can recover.

Would I recommend it?
YES - it's a minor procedure and IMO worth it when you really suffer from ETD and nasal sprays don't help.

Feel free to ask more questions if I forgot to mention anything!

 

[stophiss]

Hi,
Thanks for sharing your procedure with us and hoping it manifests a quality of life improvement moving forward.

Q1. Procedure as you described is balloons expanding the ET's. How long does it last? ET's are organic and therefore elastic. Why wouldn't they collapse with time back to original constricting diameter? Were your ET tubes stented similar to heart related surgery so they maintain lasting flow?

Q2. Based upon your procedure and potentially your ETD promoting your tinnitus...any speculation by the surgeon that you 'could' possibly have improvement to your tinnitus over time now with ETD resolved?

and lastly a more generic question...

Q3. There are a lot of comments from fellow tinnitus suffers that they feel they have blocked ears and pressure and sometimes pain. As a general cause/effect....is ETD many if not most times at the root of this pressure we feel?

Congrats on being proactive to address your ear issue and wishing you the best outcome.

 

[seal]

Hi,
Q1. Procedure as you described is balloons expanding the ET's. How long does it last? ET's are organic and therefore elastic. Why wouldn't they collapse with time back to original constricting diameter? Were your ET tubes stented similar to heart related surgery so they maintain lasting flow?

It should last permanently at best. Once widened, the tubes do not just collapse back luckily.They are just like a muscle and can be trained. But you'll have to do Valsalva maneuver a few times a day in the first few weeks to keep them open on the long run. If they ever close up again, the procedure can be done again.

Q2. Based upon your procedure and potentially your ETD promoting your tinnitus...any speculation by the surgeon that you 'could' possibly have improvement to your tinnitus over time now with ETD resolved?

I didn't talk to my doctor about my T at all. It's not why I had this surgery done... in my case the ETD came a few years after the T which I acquired from loud music not ETD.
So, no I don't think my T will (ever) go away.
But of course I hope that those times when my ears felt fully clogged and my T went through the roof will stop now that my ET are opened up.

Q3. There are a lot of comments from fellow tinnitus suffers that they feel they have blocked ears and pressure and sometimes pain. As a general cause/effect....is ETD many if not most times at the root of this pressure we feel?

Congrats on being proactive to address your ear issue and wishing you the best outcome.

No, I don't think so. Especially in the beginning after noise trauma a feeling of fulness and pressure is a common side effect. It's also a common feeling when you're stressed out which especially many new T sufferers are. I don't think all those people have ETD.
If ETD is a possible diagnosis I would also start off with going to an ENT and get nasal sprays/ try steam inhalation.
Surgery should be the last resort for confirmed ETD cases


Thank you for your wishes!

 

[stophiss]

Many thanks seal and wishing you the best.

 

[glynis]

Glad it went well for you and enjoy some relaxing me time over the next two weeks and hope quiet ears....lots of love glynis

 

[gotyoubynuts]

Hey guys,

as some of you may know, I underwent ET surgery almost a week ago.
So here comes my small FAQ for those of you with ETD.

Why?
-> because I had an almost constant really uncomfortable pressure feeling in my ears which sometimes led to my T being much louder. It was super bothersome and nasal sprays didn't help me on the long run.

Where and How?
-> Hospital, had to stay for 2 nights. They use a balloon usually used for heart surgery to widen the tubes.
Surgery took around 40 min and is performed under general anesthesia.

Pain? T louder? side effects?
-> No pain, T stayed the same, neither the general anesthesia, nor the medication or the swelling made my T worse.
Side effects: Swelling in the nose, hard to breathe at first, but it constantly gets better. Except for that, I still feel a little bit tired from the surgery but that's about it. Besides I am on sick leave for 2 weeks now, so I can recover.

Would I recommend it?
YES - it's a minor procedure and IMO worth it when you really suffer from ETD and nasal sprays don't help.

Feel free to ask more questions if I forgot to mention anything!

Hardly any procedure with general anesthesia can be considered minor but good it worked for you

what is the name of the surgery? is there a name for the operation?

 

[seal]

Hardly any procedure with general anesthesia can be considered minor but good it worked for you

what is the name of the surgery? is there a name for the operation?

The title of this thread = name of the procedure


And yes a surgery that only takes around 40 min and doesn't require any cutting etc and doesn't cause an pain is considered minor

 

[Andrea Lopez]

Hi, how long were you suffering with Eustachian tube dysfunction before you decided to get the surgery done? I am suffering from very bad Eustachian tube dysfunction for about 4 months now. Nasal sprays have donever nothing for me and I have constant crackling/poping/clogging. It'seems a nightmare. Jusy wondering how long one should wait before considering this surgery? Thank you aND I hope you are feeling much better.

 

[Phendran]

Sounds like some great surgery alright.
Been reading up on it these few days. I wonder if it would help someone with fluid behind the eardrums like myself, possibly caused by ETD.

 

[Fungus]

I'm very glad that you have done well, seal, and that dilatation has helped your symptoms

I have severe ETD and have permanent T-tubes. These have helped very much with the pressure/clicking/pain side of things. My tinnitus is unchanged (hissing tinnitus plus intermittent PT)

Here in the UK, Eustachian tube dilatation is deemed by NICE to be 'a research procedure' as they do not consider that it scores well enough on either safety or efficacy fronts (60% reporting improvement). Dilatation is more commonly performed in Europe. The side effects include tears of the Eustachian tube with scarring and stenosis and NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence) also report the less common side effects of permanent conductive deafness and even carotid artery damage/rupture. Please don't shoot me as I'm only the messenger, but it sounds like it isn't the first procedure to have done ( not in the UK, at least!).

I don't believe any procedure on the Eustachian tube is believed to improve tinnitus.

Phendran, fluid behind the eardrum should be eventually absorbed. Large amounts of fluid could be removed by myringotomy (making a hole in the eardrum) and fluid will drain out of grommets or T-tubes if it forms in the middle ear.

Fungus

 

[seal]

Hi, how long were you suffering with Eustachian tube dysfunction before you decided to get the surgery done? I am suffering from very bad Eustachian tube dysfunction for about 4 months now. Nasal sprays have donever nothing for me and I have constant crackling/poping/clogging. It'seems a nightmare. Jusy wondering how long one should wait before considering this surgery? Thank you aND I hope you are feeling much better.

I am not a doctor so I wouldn't feel comfortable giving you a time frame. It really depends on how much you're suffering I would say. I waited around 3 years all together before I finally had enough and decided to pull through with it.
In retrospective I should have done it earlier but to be fair I was misdiagnosed in the beginning and it took a long time before I knew that I had ETD

 

[seal]

I'm very glad that you have done well, seal, and that dilatation has helped your symptoms

I have severe ETD and have permanent T-tubes. These have helped very much with the pressure/clicking/pain side of things. My tinnitus is unchanged (hissing tinnitus plus intermittent PT)

Here in the UK, Eustachian tube dilatation is deemed by NICE to be 'a research procedure' as they do not consider that it scores well enough on either safety or efficacy fronts (60% reporting improvement). Dilatation is more commonly performed in Europe. The side effects include tears of the Eustachian tube with scarring and stenosis and NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence) also report the less common side effects of permanent conductive deafness and even carotid artery damage/rupture. Please don't shoot me as I'm only the messenger, but it sounds like it isn't the first procedure to have done ( not in the UK, at least!).

I don't believe any procedure on the Eustachian tube is believed to improve tinnitus.

Phendran, fluid behind the eardrum should be eventually absorbed. Large amounts of fluid could be removed by myringotomy (making a hole in the eardrum) and fluid will drain out of grommets or T-tubes if it forms in the middle ear.

Fungus

True that there is no 100% chance of the symptoms improving. But seriously, the ENT was honest enough to tell me that and i'd rather try to improve my symptoms than to just sit there and complain.
If there was a procedure with a 60% chance to improve our T i bet all of us would try it!
For the side effects... well ... I mean every medical procedure has side effects, every medication has. Everyone has to decide on their own if they are willing to take the risk.
I talked to my ENT before I had it done and none of his patients experienced other side effects worse than the surgery not working so I was pretty confident.

 

[seal]

Sounds like some great surgery alright.
Been reading up on it these few days. I wonder if it would help someone with fluid behind the eardrums like myself, possibly caused by ETD.

I think it could help if you don't want T-tubes.
When they dilated my tubes the ENT told me that fluid came trough my nose which means that I had fluid trapped in my ET although it couldn't been seen behind my ear drums before

 

[Phendran]

When they dilated my tubes the ENT told me that fluid came trough my nose which means that I had fluid trapped in my ET although it couldn't been seen behind my ear drums before

Thanks a bundle for telling me, sure sounds like a better deal than getting your ear drums cut open.
I'm not sure if that kind of procedure is available in Sweden, as it seems to be quite new.
I'll make sure to check with the local hospital as soon as I get there.

 

[Mithrandir]

My surgeon does it. You can see a video of that here :

http://www.allodocteurs.fr/actualit...ent-pour-soigner-l-otite-chronique_10026.html

 

[Sam Bridge]

Hi

Since October, i am having ear blockages which last a few days then my ear unpops and incan hear again, happens in my right ear only. Could possibly be ETD? I saw an ENT last december who said there was some minor signs of ETD in my right ear. My left ear has no T.

 

[John64]

Hello Seal. I am very much interested in having this operation done in Germany. Can you tell me the name of the hospital that did it for you. I would be very greatful. Thank you. John.

 

[seal]

Hello Seal. I am very much interested in having this operation done in Germany. Can you tell me the name of the hospital that did it for you. I would be very greatful. Thank you. John.

Hi John,
You might not need to come to Germany as this surgery is performed in many other countries. However please message me privately as I don't feel comfortable giving the name out in public.
However please keep in mind that while this surgery might help with ETD it is by no means a cure for tinnitus or hyperacusis. It does nothing for those conditions!

 

[John64]

Hello Seal,

I can't seem to find how you send a private message. Can you let me know how you send one.

Thank you.

John.

 

[John64]

Hello Seal,

I've sent you a private message.

John.