įirst therapeutic approaches to treat ET dysfunction are Valsalva-maneuver, nasal douche with sodium chloride solution or nasal sprays containing decongestants or corticoids. ET dysfunction, which has an incidence of about 1% for adults, can be connected to a number of different symptoms but nevertheless is still not clearly defined. It is lined with epithelial cells, forms the only connection between middle ear and nasopharynx, and its main functions are ventilation of the middle ear, clearance of secretion, and protection against direct sound transmission and pathogenic microorganisms.
The Eustachian tube (ET), also called auditory tube or pharyngotympanic tube, is part of a system comprising nose, palate, nasopharynx and middle ear. The cause of an otitis media often is not completely clear, but a dysfunctional Eustachian tube contributes to middle ear effusion and alteration of the mucous membrane which can also lead to retraction and/or perforation of the tympanic membrane or contribute to the formation of cholesteatoma. Otitis media still is one of the most common children’s diseases and the most frequent cause to seek medical advice. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Ĭompeting interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. The study was part of a publicly funded research Project. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.ĭata Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript.įunding: This study was supported by BMBF RESPONSE – partnership for innovation in implant technology, FKZ 03ZZ0902E, granted to Thomas Lenarz. Received: AugAccepted: ApPublished: May 4, 2020Ĭopyright: © 2020 Janzen-Senn et al. PLoS ONE 15(5):Įditor: Jorge Spratley, University of Porto Faculty of Medicine, PORTUGAL
This investigation provides necessary information to develop stents for human application and tools for safe positioning of the stents.Ĭitation: Janzen-Senn I, Schuon RA, Tavassol F, Lenarz T, Paasche G (2020) Dimensions and position of the Eustachian tube in Humans. The distance of the pharyngeal orifices from the conchae nasalis inferior increased with age, becoming most prominent above 70 years of age. Tools to manipulate the ET or to insert stents into the ET should cover angles from at least 42° to 64°. The average deviation from the horizontal plane was 1.7° larger on the left side (35.4°) compared to the right side (33.7°). The average length of the cartilaginous and bony tubes was smaller in women than men. Parameters such as lengths of the ET and its cartilaginous and bony parts, diameters, angles as well as distance of the ostium from the nasal conchae were determined and evaluated for side, gender and age specific differences. Cone beam CT scans of 143 patients were retrospectively investigated. To develop new therapies such as stents to facilitate middle ear ventilation, a better knowledge on dimensions and positions of the ET in individual patients is necessary. Eustachian tube (ET) dysfunction is one of the causes for chronic otitis media.