Ventilation tubes and persisting tympanic membrane perforations

Surgical management of otitis media with effusion and recurrent acute otiti s media includes myringotomy and the use of ventilation tubes, Since this p rocedure was reintroduced by Armstrong in 1954, ii has become one of the mo st commonly performed operations in otolaryngology, In most series perforat ion of the tympanic membrane in some patients has been reported after spont aneous extrusion or removal of the tympanostomy tubes. We present a retrosp ective review designed to examine the incidence of persisting perforations of the tympanic membrane in our series of 2604 operated ears,The study also identifies and analyzes the variables and the contributing risk factors. P erforations occurred in 3.06% of the ears: with a greater incidence in chil dren younger than 5 years, when the indication was recurrent purulent otiti s media, with the use of long-term Goode T tubes, in cases with repeated in sertions of ventilation tubes, and in cases in which postoperative otorrhea was frequent.