How will I know if I need balloon Eustachian tuboplasty?

During your initial consultation, your Consultant will ask about the symptoms you’re experiencing, such as:

• A feeling of fullness in one or both ears, often associated with hearing loss
• Pain and an inability to equalise pressure even after trying to ‘pop’ their ears on change of pressure
• Popping or squeaking in the ears
• Tinnitus

Further tests will then need to be carried out in outpatients to confirm a diagnosis.

These include audiometry (a hearing test) and tympanometry, a pressure test which may show objective evidence of abnormal middle ear pressure to confirm the diagnosis of Eustachian tube dysfunction. 

You will also be asked to fill in a validated questionnaire (the ETDQ-7) to see how high you score in the severity of your symptoms.

ETD affects about 1% of the adult population in the UK. Flight crew, pilots and scuba divers are often most affected because of the constant changes in air pressure which are part of these jobs. Those with concurrent problems with their nose and sinuses are also most often affected by these symptoms.

Your balloon Eustachian tuboplasty will be carried out under a short general anaesthetic as a day-case procedure, which means you can return home the same day.

During Eustachian tube dilatation, an endoscope is used to gently insert a small camera into the nose to visualise the Eustachian tube opening, which is located at the back of the nose. A special balloon is then inserted into the eustachian tube opening and inflated to allow the tube to be gently stretched.  

This balloon is inflated gently for about two minutes to open the Eustachian tubes before being deflated and removed. Nothing is left inside the nose or eustachian tube.

Eustachian tuboplasty isn’t painful, but some patients feel the need to take low strength painkillers such as paracetamol on the day of your surgery and/or the following morning.

The whole procedure lasts about 30 mins, and as soon as it finishes, you will wake up and be discharged from hospital 2 hours afterwards. Following your procedure, you can return to work after 24 hours.

Experiencing a temporary change in pressure or a feeling or fullness in your ears in the few days post-surgery is normal and will equalise in time. Some patients will notice an instant improvement to their ear symptoms, but more commonly it takes up to 6 weeks to feel the difference.

We’ll invite you back to our hospital for a check-up with your ENT Consultant after 6 weeks to discuss the reduction in your symptoms, and then a further telephone consultation at 6 months is usually all that is required.