Balloon dilation of eustachian tube blockage

Hi Merlin

Been following you and your balloon dilation. I had it done in March and it wasn't successful for me.

How are you doing?

You should call the Company that makes the balloon for the dilation and ask them for doctors in those areas that are performing these procedures.

Asked if you could I had to a rep in your area.

Great idea thanks!

Don't let them to tell you to look on the website.

They tried that with me & I asked to speak with w a rep specifically.

I had to keep saying in not asking you for a referral for the best doctor I'm asking for s list of doctors trained or training to use the ETD balloon device.

Then he called me back with a list.

Good luck

For reference, I did find the sites that were involved in the FDA trial that allowed the Acclarent Balloon Eustachian Tuboplasty device to be approved for use in the US. I also know that the success rate varied from 91% to 0%, but so far, I have not been able to break the code that masks the success rates of the participating centers. But you could ask them I suppose. I see that there is a site near me, but again, not clear if it was a successful site or a failure. I have an appointment tomorrow with a Doc who was recommended by Acclarent. 

United States, California

California Ear Institute

East Palo Alto, California, United States, 94303 

United States, District of Columbia

George Washington Medical Faculty Associates, ENT Center

Washington, District of Columbia, United States, 20006 

United States, Florida

ENT of South Florida

Boca Raton, Florida, United States, 33487 

ENT of South Florida

Boynton Beach, Florida, United States, 33437 

Florida Ear & Sinus Center

Sarasota, Florida, United States, 34239 

United States, Georgia

ENT of Georgia

Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 30308 

Piedmont Ear, Nose & Throat &Related Allergy

Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 30309 

United States, Indiana

Witham Health Services

Lebanon, Indiana, United States, 46052 

United States, Louisiana

Red River Sinus Center

Alexandria, Louisiana, United States, 71303 

Our Lady of the Lake Hospital

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, 70808 

United States, Massachusetts

Children's Hospital

Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02115 

United States, Minnesota

Health Partners Specialty Center

St. Paul, Minnesota, United States, 55130 

United States, Mississippi

The Sinus Center of the South

Ocean Springs, Mississippi, United States, 39564 

United States, New York

Vijay Anand, LLC

New York, New York, United States, 10021 

Ear, Nose, Throat and Allergy Associates, LLP

Port Jefferson, New York, United States, 11777 

Ear, Nose, Throat and Allergy Associates, LLP

White Plains, New York, United States, 10601 

United States, North Carolina

Charlotte Eye, Ear, Nose &Throat Associates

Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, 28210 

Carolina Ear and Hearing Clinic

Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, 27609 

United States, Texas

Texas Healthcare, PLLC

Fort Worth, Texas, United States, 76104 

Ear Medical Group

San Antonio, Texas, United States, 78240 

United States, Wisconsin

Meriter Monona

Monona, Wisconsin, United States, 53716 

The attached image is the coded success rate for these participants. 91% to 0%, so it matters where you go for tuboplasty! I am betting #1 is Poe in Boston, but I could be wrong. Who is #7, 0/9 successes? And #5, 11/12 successes?  Acclarent did not respond to my e-mail asking them to break the code. Some of the participants were grouped together for this table (unspecified), and 2 of the sites did not perform any procedures, so there are only 14 centers reporting results in the table. 

I would guess poe would be #1 because he has done the most.

What I don't understand is where are these people who are successful. I have the surgery scheduled for Friday and I'm terrified.

I will be my doctors first patient but I don't believe that will change my success rate. This is gonna either work or not.

your other comment was deleted.

Not sure what you said?

Good luck, I bet you will be fine. The doc I saw, Dr Sajjadi in San Jose, CA talked me into doing an ear tube first. The tube did immediately releave the symptoms, and liquid is oozing out of my ear. He has me on high dose antibiotics now, the goal is to clear my sinus infection. Also using nasal steroid/antihistamine combo and saline rinse of sinuses.

For the record, he has done 200 tuboplasties and says his success rate is about 80%. He said I may eventually need a tuboplasty, but it was not a first line treatment, and is complicated by my sleep apnea, which would drive the need for real anesthesia and not just conscious sedation, driving up the difficulty and cost factors. He said the notion of doing the tuboplasty without some type of sedation (i.e. local only) is not acceptable, the pain is too great.

With luck, my infection will clear and inflammation settle, and I will not need to go the full dialation route. But at least I found a local doc that has been doing tuboplasties since 2011, long before it was approved in the US. He even advertises it on his office handout. He and his office in general seemed very professional and competent. Warned me to stop taking my anticholesterol med while taking the antibiotic, a level of drug interaction awareness that I have not seen in most other docs. 

My doctor told me 6-8 Weeks for recovery. I had the balloon dilation done in March and unfortunately, it didn't work for me. I'm gonna try it again in September. Who was your doctor?

Sorry to hear it didn't work for you the first time. Do you have a sense of why? I went to a doctor here in the UK, so I'm not sure if the procedure is different in any way. Thanks

My Dr didn't say it could be done again, His name is Dr Andersen, Vancouver, WA

My surgery was April 20th, 2017 and if anything it's worse as my ear openings are always swollen almost shut. When I see him again soon I'll ask about it

Have no clue......i have no other issues, no sinus problems, no allergies, no ear infections. My doctor said I was the perfect candidate. Still suffering.

Your doctor didn't tell you how long recovery would be?