[Introduction]The patulous eustachian tube is an intractable disorder for rational symptoms such as a blocked ear, hearing breath sounds and autophony. Most of the causes are unclear. Therefore, we report a rare case of acupuncture on the patulous eustachian tube.
[Case]K. X., 43years old, male, Occupation:staff of an association.
Chief Complaint:Auto phony. Self breath sound listening.
Clinical history:In Oct 20xx, he was aware of suddenly hearing breath sounds and autophony.
The same year Oct, the "Y"Otolaryngology Clinic diagnosed it as normal hearing ability and patulous eustachian tube. It was not improved by pharmacotherapy.
In the same month, an otoscope examination was taken at the "Z"Medical College of Otolaryngology and it was diagnosed as a patulous eustachian tube again. Acupuncture treatment was started from Dec. of the same year.
Present illness:Weber test (-), hearing ability (normal), hypertonus of splenius capitis muscle
[Acupuncture treatment]Selection of acupoints was considered where the patient said "symptoms decreased with mandibular exercise". Therefore, the trigeminal nerve regional acupoints that influence the masseter and posterior region of the neck were chosen.
[Progress]In total, 25 acupuncture treatments were performed once a week from the onset.
The patulous eustachian tube symptoms were evaluated by Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) from the first treatment.
Barometric change and psychological stress exacerbated symptoms repeatedly, but the NRS of symptoms was relieved to about 50%by acupuncture at the first hospital visit.
[Discussion and conclusions]It was suggested that the symptoms of patulous eustachian tube were relieved by stimulation of acupoints on the splenius capitis muscle and trigeminal nerve region.