MicroTymp is a dissolvable-tip tympanostomy delivery system designed to let ENT clinicians place ear tubes in awake pediatric patients using standard tools, with the goal of avoiding general anesthesia, reducing cost, and streamlining in-office care.
Concept and Clinical Need
Tympanostomy tubes are used to ventilate the middle ear and prevent recurrent or chronic otitis media, a condition especially common in young children. Today, pediatric ear tube procedures are usually done in the OR under general anesthesia, adding at least several hundred dollars and over an hour of resource-intensive time per case.
MicroTymp addresses a defined clinical need: providing reliable middle-ear ventilation for children under five without general anesthesia, using existing otologic instruments, while maintaining precision, safety, and patient comfort. By enabling in-office procedures with local anesthesia, the device aims to reduce cost, open OR capacity, and decrease stress for families and children.
How MicroTymp Works
MicroTymp combines an expandable tympanostomy tube with a dissolvable introducer tip that both pierces the tympanic membrane and houses the compressed tube during insertion. After the clinician uses standard alligator forceps and an otoscope to position the device, the sharp tip creates the myringotomy, the tube is deployed into the membrane, and the tip dissolves in middle-ear fluid, leaving only the silicone (or TPU prototype) tube in place for ventilation.
The dissolvable tip is engineered to puncture with less than 500 g of force (to minimize trauma) and to dissolve in under 20 minutes, matching the typical 5–10 minute procedure time and ~30 minute duration of topical local anesthesia.