A Model to Explain the Rapid Pressure Decrease After Air-Inflation of Diseased Middle Ears

Objectives: Air‐inflation in humans and monkeys with significant negative middle ear pressure or with middle ear inflammation was shown to cause greater than ambient middle ear pressure initially, followed by a rapid rate of pressure decrease to approach the preinflation value. Study Design: A mathematical model of middle ear pressure regulation is presented and used to simulate air‐inflation of the normal and diseased middle ear. Materials and Methods: The model represents the total volume of the middle ear as consisting of three subcompartments representing the airspace, effusion, and mucosa/blood. Gas exchange among those compartments was assumed to be diffusion limited, and the gas exchange between the mucosa/blood compartment and systemic blood was assumed to be perfusion limited. Disease was modeled as an increase in mucosal blood flow or, alternatively, as an increase in the volumes of the effusion and mucosa/blood compartments. Results: The predictions of the model agree better with the experimental data when the increased rate of pressure change after middle ear inflation in diseased ears is driven by an increased volume of the effusion compartment as opposed to an increased perfusion rate. The responsible mechanism is a rapid redistribution among subcompartments of the gas volume introduced into the air compartment. Conclusions: These results suggest that middle ear inflation with inert gas can be used to diagnose the presence and relative amount of middle ear effusion, and that current protocols for treating otitis media with effusion using inflation need to be modified to optimize their intended effect.