Tympanomaxillary Shunt: Experiences and Development

Abstract

Various late complications have occurred in 6 patients following insertion of a tympanomaxillary shunt. The most common of these, slipping and displacement of the shunt, can probably be prevented by using a prefabricated curved tube, by fixating the sutures with silastic adhesive and by putting the tube outside the bony canal wall. This appears to be the only reported method of tubal by-pass which restores middle ear ventilation leaving the canal skin and eardrum intact and which allows the patient to autoinflate by performing Valsalva's manoeuvre.