The Anatomical Feature Of Children's Eustachian Tube And Its Relation With Otitis Media With Effution

Objective To study the development process of eustachian tube(ET) in children and the relation between children with otitis media with effusion(OME) and eustachian tube by computed tomography(CT) using the three-dimensional reconstruction.Methods Case control study was used.All the data of ET in children with OME(37 cases,67 ears) and without OME(32 cases,64 ears) were measured on CT using the MPR.Results In the both groups,the length of ET(including the bony portion and the cartilaginous portion) was observed to constantly increase with age,as well as the angle from Reid's plane,and the angle between the bony portion and the cartilaginous portion was observed to constantly decrease with age.The lengths of the bony portion in the normal children group and bilateral OME children group were 0.8395±0.12284 cm and 0.9538±0.11532 cm,and the lengths of the cartilaginous portion were 2.6292±0.26664 cm and 3.0003±0.23815 cm,respectively.There was significant difference in the groups(P＜0.01).Meanwhile,the length relative magnitudes of the bony portion were 0.1916±0.01956 and 0.1935±0.01309,and the length relative magnitudes of the cartilaginous portion were 0.6011±0.03098 and 0.6105±0.02776,there was no significant difference in the groups(P＞0.05).The angles between the bony and cartilaginous portion were 170.41±2.454°and 168.13±4.852°,the angles from Reid's plane were 16.38±3.345°and 19.38±3.435°,the angles from sagittal plane were 45.92±3.354°and 42.92±3.391°,respectively.There was significant difference in the groups(P＜0.01) of the three angles.The superior-inferior diameters of the tympanic orifice were 0.2445±0.04227 cm and 0.2445±0.04227 cm,the trans diameters of the tympanic orifice were 0.2400±0.05743 cm and 0.2608±0.06140 cm,the superior-inferior diameters of the pharyngeal orifice were 0.2417±0.07788 cm and 0.2168±0.09582 cm,respectively.There was no significant difference in the groups (P＞0.05) of the three diameters.There was significant difference of the trans diameters of the pharyngeal orifice(P＜0.01),which were 0.2295±0.07179 cm and 0.1743±0.07430 cm,respectively.But there was no significant difference of the trans diameters of the pharyngeal orifice in children without adenoidal hypertrophy in both groups (P＞0.05),which were 0.2406±0.06882 cm and 0.2100±0.10576 cm.There was significant difference in the lengths of the cartilaginous portion data between affected side and uninjured side in unilateral OME children group(P＜0.05),but no significant difference in the other data(P＞0.05).Conclusion The main trend of the development process of eustachian tube(ET) in children is lengthening,benting and far away from the transverse plane.The difference of the lengths of ET(including the bony portion and the cartilaginous portion) may not have relation with OME in children,while the difference of angles of ET(including the angle between the bony and cartilaginous portion,the angle from Reid's plane,and the angles from sagittal plane) may be the influential factor.The morphological difference of the pharyngeal orifice may be one of the important influential factors of OME in children.