Saline injection to determine the volume required for personalised patulous Eustachian tube augmentation with long-standing material.

OBJECTIVE: There is currently no general consensus on patulous Eustachian tube management. Injection of autologous fat, cartilage or hydroxylapatite has been described for Eustachian tube occlusion, with promising results. However, complete resolution of symptoms is not achieved in all cases. This could be connected to the amount of material injected into the surroundings of the Eustachian tube, as this greatly differs among existing studies. Identifying the appropriate volume of injected material could be challenging because anatomical conditions vary among patients, and there is always a risk of chronic Eustachian tube obstruction and its related complications when too much long-standing material is injected.Case reportA case is presented wherein saline was injected under local anaesthesia to determine the volume required and to predict the success of patulous Eustachian tube augmentation with long-standing material.

CONCLUSION: This approach could allow more personalised treatment and help identify patients likely to benefit from the procedure.