Twelve-month outcomes of Eustachian tube procedures for management of patulous Eustachian tube dysfunction.

Objective: To determine the 12-month effectiveness of transnasal-transoral endoscopic surgical procedures for eliminating symptoms of patulous Eustachian tube dysfunction (PETD).

Study Design: Retrospective chart review METHODS: Patients with medically refractory PETD underwent one of the following procedures: 1) shim (catheter) insertion, 2) calcium hydroxyapatite injection, 3) patulous Eustachian tube (ET) reconstruction, or 4) obliteration of the ET lumen. Time to recurrence of any PETD symptoms was recorded, and success was determined as complete symptom resolution at 12 months.

Microstructural White Matter Abnormalities in the Dorsal Cingulum of Adolescents with IBS.

Alterations in fractional anisotropy (FA) have been considered to reflect microstructural white matter (WM) changes in disease conditions; however, no study to date has examined WM changes using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in adolescents with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The objective of the present study was two-fold: (1) to determine whether differences in FA, and other non-FA metrics, were present in adolescents with IBS compared to healthy controls using whole-brain, region of interest (ROI)-restricted tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) and canonical ROI DTI analyses for the cingulum bundle, and (2) to determine whether these metrics were related to clinical measures of disease duration and pain intensity in the IBS group. A total of 16 adolescents with a Rome III diagnosis of IBS (females = 12; mean age = 16.

Abdominal Pain, the Adolescent and Altered Brain Structure and Function.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorder of unknown etiology. Although relatively common in children, how this condition affects brain structure and function in a pediatric population remains unclear. Here, we investigate brain changes in adolescents with IBS and healthy controls.

Histopathology of balloon-dilation Eustachian tuboplasty.

Objectives/hypothesis: Surgical intervention of the Eustachian tube (ET) has become increasingly common in the past decade, and balloon dilation has shown promising results in recent studies. It is unclear how balloon dilation enhances ET function. Our aim was to evaluate histological changes in the ET's mucosal lumen comparing before balloon dilation, immediately after, and postoperatively.