Effects of an Anti-cholinergic on the Function of Patulous Eustachian Tube

Abstract

Clinical diagnoses concerning patulous eustachian tube are often difficult to make. Also, no specific therapy for patulous tube has been established. Therefore, in this experiment, we attempted to design a method by which we could examine tubal function and make both diagnoses and therapeutic evaluations of patulous tube. The tube of an ear suffering from patulous tube tended to be easily opened by air insufflation in comparison to that of a normal ear. The intra-tubal treatment of patulous tube by atropine, an anti-cholinergic, alleviated both the impaired tubal function and complaints such as ear fullness and autophonia. The results suggest that topical administration with anti-cholinergics should be an effective treatment for patulous eustachian tube.

Key Words:

• eustachian tube
• tubal function
• anti-cholinergics
• atropine