A case of severe patulous eustachian tube treated with transpharyngeal insertion of silicone plug

The patulous eustachian tube (ET) is a disease with annoying symptoms such as aural fullness, autophony, and the hearing of one's own respiratory sounds. In severe cases, it is very difficult to completely cure such symptoms. We previously reported that transtympanic insertion of a specially designed silicone plug into ET was effective in about 80% of severe cases. Although rare, in a small number of cases, it was difficult to insert a plug through the tympanic orifice of the ET. In this paper, we report a case of severe patulous ET, in which transtympanic insertion was unsuccessful. We succeeded in controlling symptoms by inserting the plug into the ET through the pharyngeal orifice.