Association Between Eustachian Tube Dysfunction Questionnaire-7 Scores and Eustachian Tube Function Test Results in Symptomatic Patients With a Normal Drum.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: We investigated the clinical validity of and correlation between the Eustachian Tube Dysfunction Questionnaire-7 (ETDQ-7) scores and the eustachian tube function test (ETFT) results in patients with a normal drum. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study included 49 patients (93 ears) with unilateral or bilateral ear fullness over >3 months. All patients were administered the ETDQ-7 survey and underwent the ETFT on the same day. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the association between the results were statistically analyzed. RESULTS: ETDQ-7 scores were not significantly correlated with the ETFT results or with middle ear pressure. ETDQ-7 scores in patients with eustachian tube dysfunction (ETD) were significantly higher than those in patients with normal ETFT results (p=0.039) when ETD was defined as a pressure change <10 daPa on the ETFT. The area under the ROC curve was 0.631, with a sensitivity of 37.0% and specificity of 89.4%. CONCLUSIONS: The ETDQ-7 has limited clinical significance in patients with ETD but a normal drum. Therefore, concomitant objective tests should be performed to diagnose patients with ETD.

Revisiting the Diagnostic Performance of the Modified Nine-Step Test for Obstructive and Patulous Eustachian Tube Dysfunction.

The nine-step test is a classical method for evaluating Eustachian tube function. It directly assesses the patient's capacity to equilibrate middle ear pressure by swallowing. However, there are insufficient studies to appraise its diagnostic performance. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, and cut-off value of the nine-step test in patients with obstructive Eustachian tube dysfunction (oETD) and patulous Eustachian tube (PET). Enrolled subjects were divided into three groups. Control (50 ears of healthy volunteers), oETD (19 ears with oETD), and PET (29 ears with PET). Receiver operating characteristics curve analysis was conducted to evaluate the diagnostic performance of maximal peak pressure difference (ETTmd) in the nine-step test. Both the oETD group and the PET group showed decreased ETTmd. The nine-step test showed moderate accuracy when used to diagnose oETD (area under the curve = 0.875) and PET (area under the curve = 0.769). The highest diagnostic performance was observed when the cut-off value was 13 daPa for both the oETD group (sensitivity = 73.7%, specificity = 90.0%) and the PET group (sensitivity = 58.6%, specificity = 90.0%). The nine-step test has moderate diagnostic performance for oETD and PET.

Trends in topics presented as posters at the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) annual meetings for the last 7 years: implications of an SRS annual meeting abstract registry (Part II).

PURPOSE: Analyzing and comparing past Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) poster and podium presentations would allow members to see trends in areas of interest and help authors guide future research efforts. METHODS: Abstract books from 2011 to 2017 were retrieved and titles were extracted. From each title and abstract body, keywords were identified and collected. Keywords were categorized into several groups: subjects of study, topics not related to treatment, conservative treatment, surgery, treatment result, complications, revision, long-term follow-up, cost, and questionnaire. Each category was subcategorized based on specific topics. Assignments of keywords were manually checked against their abstracts. The frequency of each keyword was ranked to represent areas of interest and trended according to year. The results were compared to trends in podium presentations. RESULTS: The most popular keywords in each group were similar to those of the podium presentations. There has been an increasing trend for: Early Onset Scoliosis, Radiographic Diagnosis, and Sagittal Alignment. There has been a decreasing trend for: Neuromuscular, X-ray, Posterior Surgery, Osteotomy, Pedicle Screws, Mental Failure/Misplaced Screw, Revision, and Hospital Stay. The distribution of topics of the poster presentation was not significantly different from those of podium presentation, but podium has more long-term follow-up studies. CONCLUSION: We report trends in SRS poster presentations. We found no significant difference between the topics of poster and those of podium presentations. We hope this data could help members better prepare for future meetings.

Analysis of Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) Podium Presentations for the Last Seven Years: Implications of an SRS Annual Meeting Abstract Registry.

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective review of abstracts of SRS podium presentations from 2011 to 2017. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to demonstrate trends in topics of SRS podium presentations and to create an abstract registry for future deformity research. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Podium presentations at the SRS annual meetings are considered excellent for their quality research in current areas of interest. Knowing the trends of these studies would help surgeons understand current interests in spinal deformity. METHODS: Abstract books from 2011 to 2017 were retrieved and titles were extracted. From each title and abstract body, keywords were identified and collected. Keywords were categorized into several groups: subjects of study, topics not related to treatment, conservative treatment, surgery, treatment result, complications, revision, long-term follow-up, cost, and questionnaire. The frequency of each keyword was ranked to represent areas of interest, and trended according to year. RESULTS: The most popular key words in each group were AIS, prognostic factor, posterior surgery, sagittal alignment, and nerve and cord safety. There has been an increasing trend for AIS, EOS, NM, ASD, tumors, etiology, pathology, prognostic factors, radiographic diagnoses, radiographic parameters, and questionnaire/database studies. There has been a decreasing trend for conservative treatment, postoperative care, growing rod, pedicle screws, hooks, bleeding, and radiation safety. CONCLUSION: We report the trend of SRS podium presentation. We hope that these data will be of interest to our members as a representation of where interests have been for the SRS, and these data can be the foundation of an SRS AM abstract registry for spinal deformity research.