Eustachian tube dysfunction is implicated as a significant cause of childhood and adult ear disease. Increasingly eustachian tube balloon dilation is offered as an adjunctive or stand alone treatment for many of these disorders. Dr Walton has been trained overseas with this technique.

There has been a large amount of medical research examining the safety and efficacy of this procedure which has success rates of 50-60% at 1 and 2 year follow up assessments.

The risk of complication is low, and this is typically performed as a day procedure under general anaesthesia. Adjunctive procedures may include inferior turbinoplasty, middle ear ventilation tube insertion, cholesteatoma surgery or tympanoplasty.

At the Children’s hospital Dr Walton has also started offering this procedure to selected patients as young as 9 years of age with recalcitrant ear disease.