The efficacy of CO2 laser myringotomy in serous otitis media Seröz otitis media tedavisinde CO2 lazer miringotominin etkinli¤i

Objectives: We evaluated the efficacy of CO2 laser myringotomy combined with adenoidectomy in children with serous otitis media (SOM) unresponsive to medical therapy and compared the recurrences in the follow-up period with the control group who underwent adenoidectomy and ventilation tube (VT) insertion. Patients and Methods: The CO2 laser myringotomy group included 25 children with a mean age of 5.6 years and there were 10 children with a mean age of 6.3 years in the VT control group. The laser used was a Sharplan 1030 CO2 laser, attached to Zeiss Universal S3 operation microscope with a 300 mm objective, using a Microspot optical delivery system. Results: Mean (±SD) healing time was 13 (±2.16) days in 4 ears with myringotomies less than 2 mm diameters, and 25 (±2.34) days in 46 ears with myringotomies with 2 mm diameters. During the 6 months follow-up period there were 11 recurrences (22%) in CO2 laser group and 4 recurrences (20%) in the control group, which was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Conclusion: We prefer laser myringotomy in SOM cases who do not need long time middle ear ventilation; we use the ventilation tubes in cases with thick mucoid effusion and recurrent effusion after laser myringotomy.