- Knowledgebase: Cough, Congestion, and Ears
- Questions about the managment of coughs and congestion, as well as ear infections.
- 9. Should my child have "tubes" put in? - Top
- There have been hundreds of studies of tubes (bilateral tympanostomy tubes, BTTs) over the years and still nobody really knows how to decide when to put them in.
Our goal is to prevent hearing loss. Risk for hearing loss increases as fluid/infection is present behind the ear drum for 2-3 months or more. That is when we start talking about tubes.
Likewise, when we cant get the infections to clear with any of our oral antibiotics, we start to talk about tubes.
Sometimes, the results are dramatic- not another infection. Othertimes, they fall out, or infections just continue. Hopefully the Prevnar pneumococcal vaccine will avoid tubes in some children. - Updated: March 9, 2001
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