Age dependent changes of the Eustachian tube

Introduction:

To develop stents for the Eustachian tube (ET) to treat middle ear ventilation disorders, a better knowledge about anatomical variations is necessary. Stents have to be places atraumatically and shall not induce a permanently open ET.

Methods:

Regular CBCT scans of patients aged between 4 and 94 were retrospectively evaluated to check for possible variations.

Results:

The total length of the ET is between 34.5 and 47.2 mm with the cartilaginous part comprising between 22.6 and 36.2 mm. Young patients between 4 and 7 years of age have a shorter ET than older patients. For adults the length of the bony part of the ET is independent from age, but the length of the cartilaginous part gets reduced with age. The open air-filled part of the ET in the scans gets increased with age from 5 mm (age < 10) via 8.9 mm (20 – 30 years of age) to 11.8 mm (age > 80). Especially for patients above 70 years of age, the distance between the pharyngeal ostium and the concha nasalis inferior gets increased.

Conclusion:

Due to the large variability amongst patients and the age specific changes, a preoperative CBCT scan appears to be recommended before going for stenting the ET.

Publication History

Publication Date:
23 April 2019 (online)