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Clinical value of the Eustachian Tube Function Scoring System T-ETDQ: a prospective diagnostic study

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Abstract

Purpose

Tubomanometry (TMM) and the seven-item Eustachian Tube Dysfunction Questionnaire (ETDQ-7) was integrated to establish the Tubomanometry Eustachian Tube Dysfunction Questionnaire (T-ETDQ), and its reliability, potential clinical application, and diagnostic value for Eustachian tube function were investigated.

Methods

This prospective diagnostic study included patients visiting the ENT Department of our Hospital, between April and June 2021. Patients were grouped into Eustachian tube dysfunction (ETD) and control groups according to tympanometry diagnosis results. The diagnostic value of the T-ETDQ was evaluated using receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.

Results

There were 48 patients with Obstructive ETD and 24 patients without. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) of T-ETDQ was 0.898 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.826–0.969), and the highest sensitivity and specificity were 76.7% and 86.7% respectively when the positive cutoff value was 4.72. The AUC of Eustachian tube score (ETS) was 0.731 (95% CI 0.625–0.837) and the highest sensitivity and specificity were 48.3% and 90.0% respectively when the positive cut-off value was 4.5. The ETS and T-ETDQ had kappa values of 0.311 and 0.585, respectively (P < 0.001 for both), showing both methods were comparable to tympanometry; however, T-ETDQ had more consistent results than ETS.

Conclusion

T-ETDQ can effectively quantify and evaluate ETD severity in adults, has a higher diagnostic value than ETS, making it a suitable diagnostic tool.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Ms. Lv XiaoLing of Zhejiang Hospital for providing statistical guidance.

Funding

No funds, grants, or other support was received.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China

    Hongyi Lu & Jun Su

  2. Department of Otolaryngology, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, China

    Hongyi Lu, Wanlei Chi, Ting Zou & Mingqiang Yu

  3. Department of Otolaryngology, Zhejiang Hospital, Hangzhou, China

    Kang Wang

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  1. Hongyi Lu
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  2. Jun Su
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  3. Wanlei Chi
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  4. Ting Zou
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  5. Mingqiang Yu
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  6. Kang Wang
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. The experiment was designed by HL and JS. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by HL, WC, TZ and MY. The first draft of the manuscript was written by KW and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kang Wang.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Ethics approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of Tongde Hospital, Zhejiang Province (ZTDKSZ [2021] No.061).

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Written informed consents were obtained from all the subjects of this study.

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Supplementary Information

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Supplementary file1 (DOCX 20 kb)

405_2021_7108_MOESM2_ESM.tif

Supplementary file2 The curves of pressure changes in the nasopharynx and external auditory canal under different pressures. The upper part is the external auditory canal and the lower part is the nasopharynx. C1: The point at which pressure on the nasopharynx starts to increase; C2: The point at which pressure on the nasopharynx rises to the peak value; P1: The point at which pressure on the external auditory canal starts to rise; P2: The point at which pressure on the external auditory canal rises to the peak value (TIF 1540 kb)

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Lu, H., Su, J., Chi, W. et al. Clinical value of the Eustachian Tube Function Scoring System T-ETDQ: a prospective diagnostic study. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 279, 2223–2230 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-021-07108-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-021-07108-6

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