For children with cleft palate, tympanostomy tube placement improves hearing outcomes, according to a study published online Sept. 25 in the Ear, Nose & Throat Journal.

Nina Wijnants, M.D., from Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study of 44 nonsyndromic children undergoing primary single-stage cleft palate repair to examine the effectiveness of tympanostomy tube placement.

Overall, 88.6% of patients had otitis media with effusion (OME): 31.8% had conductive hearing loss and 4.5% had sensorineural loss. The researchers found that postintervention, there was a significant mean improvement of 14.13 dB. There were no significant differences seen between the ears. At the child level, random intercept variance was 49.07, indicating substantial interindividual variability. In patients with repeated tube placements, tympanic membrane abnormalities were observed, without causing long-term deterioration in hearing.

“Our findings demonstrate the efficacy of tympanostomy tube placement in improving hearing outcomes in cleft palate-affected children, reinforcing the evidence from prior studies,” the authors write. “Although OME and its sequelae remain common, when OME is present at the time of cleft surgery or there is a documented history of recurrent OME or acute otitis media, concurrent tube placement should be considered to alleviate conductive hearing loss.”

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