The effect of topical adrenaline on the development of myringosclerosis after tympanostomy tube insertion

Objective: To determine the effect of topical adrenaline application after myringotomy and before tympanostomy tube placement on the development of my ringosclerosis. Study Design: A prospective, randomized, double-blind study, with:each pati ent acting as his or her own control. Ethical approval and full parental co nsent were obtained. Setting: Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery in a unive rsity teaching hospital. Patients: Fifty children satisfying inclusion and exclusion criteria for fi rst-time tympanostomy tube insertion. Therapeutic Intervention: Myringotomy followed by adrenaline application to incision before tympanostomy tube insertion. Control contralateral ear rec eived saline application after myringotomy. Follow-up examination was done 14 to 21 days after surgery and again after 1 year by a single blinded surg eon. Main Outcome Measure: Comparison of myringosclerosis between adrenaline-tre ated ears and matched control ears. Results: No difference was found in early morbidity between the two groups of ears. Myringosclerosis after 1 year was nor found to have been significa ntly affected by adrenaline application (p = 0.2) Conclusion: The use of adrenaline on the myringotomy site before tympanosto my tube placement was not found to influence early postoperative morbidity or the later development of myringosclerosis.