Cephalometric and audiological assessment of eustachian tube in down syndrome and chronic otitis media

Abstract

Objective: Cephalometric assessment of Eustachian tube (ET) parameters and audiological evaluation in Down syndrome (DS) and Chronic Otitis Media (COM) and comparison with controls. The ET length, Total Cranial Base (TCB), Posterior Upper Facial Height (PUFH), Maxillary Depth (MD), s-ba (sella-basion) to Palatal Line (PL) and s-ba to ET length were considered. Materials and methods: The study comprised of 75 subjects of both sexes in the age range of 7 to 20 years. Digital lateral cephalometry was performed for DS, COM and controls (n = 25). Pure tone audiometry (PTA) and immittance audiometry (IA) was performed to assess audiological status. Results: ET length, PUFH, TCB and MD was found to be significantly reduced in DS and COM. s-ba to PL and s-ba to ET was significantly reduced in DS and COM. The s-ba to PL and s-ba to ET length angle in moderate and severe CHL (Conductive Hearing Loss) was decreased significantly. The s-ba to ET length was significantly decreased in patients with B and C tympanogram. Conclusion: Aberration in the dimension of the region of the ET can be considered as a predisposing factor for otitis media and conductive hearing loss in DS.