by Elana Gotkine

For children with cleft palate, tympanostomy tube placement improves hearing outcomes, according to a studypublishedonline Sept. 25 in theEar, Nose & Throat Journal.

Nina Wijnants, M.D., from Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and colleagues conducted aretrospective cohort studyof 44 nonsyndromic children undergoing primary single-stagecleft palaterepair 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 acuteotitis media, concurrent tube placement should be considered to alleviate conductive hearing loss."

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More information: Nina Wijnants et al, Impact of Tympanostomy Tube Placement on Hearing Outcomes in Children With Cleft Palate-Related Otitis Media: Retrospective Analysis of a Primary Single-Stage Cleft Palate Repair Cohort, Ear, Nose & Throat Journal (2025). DOI: 10.1177/01455613251376792