Diagnostic Accuracy of Tympanometry for Diagnosis of Fluid the Middle Ears of Children with Otitis Media with Effusion staking Myringotomy as Gold Standard

Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of tympanometry for diagnosing fluid in the middle ears of children with Otitis Media with Effusion taking myringotomy as a gold standard. Study Design: Cross-sectional study Place and Duration of Study: Department of ENT & Head and Neck Surgery, Combined Military Hospital, Peshawar Pakistan, from Oct 2018 to Sep 2020. Methodology: A total of 201 patients who underwent tympanometry followed by myringotomy of aged between 3 to 12 years of either gender were included. All patients underwent tympanometry. After that, myringotomy was carried out through a radial incision in the anteroinferior quadrant using a general inhalational anaesthetic agent. The operative findings at myringotomy were recorded. The presence of fluid on intraoperative findings using myringotomy was considered positive for the presence of fluid in the middle ears of children. Results: The age range of the patients was from 3-12 years, with a mean age of 7.35±2.41 years. Of these 207 patients,133(64.18%) were males, and 74(35.82%) were females. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and diagnostic accuracy of tympanometry for diagnosis of fluid in the middle ears of children with Otitis Media with Effusion taking myringotomy as the gold standard was 85.7%, 86.3%, 89.4%, 81.7% and 85.9% respectively. Conclusion: This study concluded that the diagnostic accuracy of tympanometry for the diagnosis of fluid in the middle ears of children with Otitis Media with Effusion is quite high.