Abstract:Objective To explore the impacts of otoscopic tympanic membrane catheterization on eustachian tube function and air conduction hearing threshold in patients with chronic secretory otitis media (CSOM).Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the data of 98 CSOM patients from June 2021 to June 2023. They were divided into two groups based on different surgical procedures: the tympanic membrane puncture group (n = 48, using otoscopic tympanic membrane puncture) and the tympanic membrane catheterization group (n = 50, using otoscopic tympanic membrane catheterization). The seven-item eustachian tube dysfunction questionnaire (ETDQ-7) was used to evaluate the eustachian tube function before and 6 months after surgery. The level of air conduction hearing threshold was measured at different frequencies and used to evaluate the hearing of each group. The clinical efficacy, the postoperative complications, and recurrence were observed.Results 6 months after surgery, the ETDQ-7 score, and the air conduction hearing threshold level at three frequencies in both groups were lower than those before surgery, and the tympanic membrane catheterization group were lower than the tympanic membrane puncture group, the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). The total effective rate of the tympanic membrane catheterization group was higher than that of the tympanic membrane puncture group (93.94% vs 81.54%), the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05); The incidence of postoperative complications in the tympanic membrane catheterization group was lower than that of the tympanic membrane puncture group (4.55% vs 16.92%), the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05); There was no significant difference between the recurrence rate of 6.06% in the tympanic membrane catheterization group and 10.77% in the tympanic membrane puncture group (P > 0.05).Conclusion The application of otoscopic tympanic membrane catheterization in CSOM patients has a better effect, which can effectively improve the eustachian tube function and the level of air conduction hearing threshold, and help reduce the occurrence of postoperative complications. It is worthy clinical application.