Anyone exp Ear Tubes without surgery?
Our six year old needs some ear tubes, she's been having persistent issues with fluid build up in her ears. I'm curious if any BPN folks have had experiences with some of the newer in-clinic treatments (ear tubes installed without surgery). Many previous discussions on this site, but not in the past 7 or 8 years.
We're Kaiser members, but recent experiences (and costs) have us reconsidering if we can go the surgery route (Tympanostomy). We got an estimate for almost $8k for our out of pocket costs, which we would have to borrow and take on as debt to complete the procedure. We're considering just going out of network to a local provider if we can find a clinic or ENT that offers this service. The hummingbird device shows some providers in the Sacramento area, but none in the bay area.
Parent Replies
I have worked as a pre-and postop RN in a pediatric surgery unit for decades, so my experience is limited to surgery (including ear tube placement)with general anesthesia.
Ear tube placement is one of the most common procedures done, in my experience. I’ve cared for hundreds of kids having this procedure, and it is so fast when done under general anesthesia. At my facility, parents were present when the anesthesia was administered before the child was brought, asleep, into the OR; the procedure itself took 5 minutes or so in the operating room, and then child and parents were reunited quickly in the recovery room, the child got a drink or a popsicle, and went home after about 30 minutes.
I would not want to have my own child to have this procedure without anesthesia because they would need to be restrained, and it would be scary and painful (the administration of local anesthestic is painful). I know adults who have had this done and they say it is a bit painful and the sound in the ear while being worked on is unpleasant- and I’ll add that adults are cooperative, understand what’s going on, and give consent themselves.
In my view as an RN, a procedure done under general anesthesia by a pediatric anesthesiologist is safer than a procedure done under conscious sedation or without sedation, because it is more controlled and your child will be cared for by an anesthesiologist whose concern is your child’s breathing and comfort, while the surgeon concentrates on the procedure.
Your child will need to fast prior to anesthesia, so it’s nice to have an early morning appointment. Just my two cents.
My experience is over 30 years old. But I will say this: My son had ear tubes placed with surgery TWICE. The second time, they fell out after 2 weeks, so were mostly useless. I hope if you intend to go into debt for this procedure that the non-surgical procedure is better than that.
My son had 3 sets of tubes plus other ENT stuff. Most ENT’s will not place them in children without anesthesia because of the danger of the child moving and them damaging their eardrum. My son had one of his t-tubes pulled out without anesthesia when he was 8 because he couldn’t stand having it in there after a few years. He cried like crazy and the ENT said she’d never taken one out of a kid under 10-12 without anesthesia. He was so annoyed with it he convinced her he wouldn’t move and he didn’t but he screamed like hell. I would see if any do it with partial sedation or something that maybe woodon’t be as costly as full anesthesia? Good luck!
Hi! Just chiming in (as a Pediatric NP in the periop setting) that I 100% agree w/ everything the RN said above - this is not a procedure that I would attempt on a child awake, and I give extra emphasis on the importance of a pediatric anesthesiologist and (brief) GA in an OR setting , as opposed to "sedation" anywhere other than an OR.
My daughter is eight years old and just had one tube placed as part of a study doing the in office procedure for tube placement. It was quick and painless. She rated her pain at a two on a scale of 1-10. She was scared when we were first told the recommendation was tubes but felt that the in office route was better than anesthesia. The doctor did tell us if it didn’t work she would have to go in and have it done. In the end it was quick and easy. No regrets. Obviously you know your child but I felt my daughter could handle sitting still for the time it took.