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The nasopharynx, eustachian tube and otitis media

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

Jacob Sadé
Jacob Sadé*
Affiliation:
Sackler School of Medicine, Ear Research Laboratory. The Bio-Engineering Programme, Dumont Chair of Hearing Research. Tel Aviv University, Israel.
*
Professor J. Sadé, 14 Hagefen Street, 47254 Ramat Hasharon, Israel. Fax: 972-3-5700924.
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Abstract

It has been classically hypothesized that a mass in the nasopharynx causes an obstacle to air flow through the eustachian tube, thereby creating a negative pressure in the middle ear followed by an effusion. However, examination of the relevant data concerning the supposed obstruction of the eustachian tube by nasopharyngeal carcinomas, choanal polyps and adenoids does not seem to support this cause and effect relationship. Evidence points to other more sophisticated mechanisms which cause negative pressure and an effusion in pathological middle ear conditions. While the hypothesis of a nasopharyngeal mass as the usual obstructive cause of middle ear effusion is hard to maintain, evidence does exist to support the origin of middle ear infection, as seen in acute and secretory otitis media, as being associated, at times, with an ascending infection from the nasopharynx.

Keywords

Otitis media with effusionOtitis mediaEustachian tubeAdenoidsAtelectasisCholesteatomaNasopharyngeal neoplasmsNasopharynx
Type
Review Article
Information
The Journal of Laryngology & Otology , Volume 108 , Issue 2 , February 1994 , pp. 95 - 100
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1994

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Footnotes

Lecture presented at the 14th Congress of the European Rhinological Society, Rome, October 1992.

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