{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,27]],"date-time":"2026-08-27T02:25:05Z","timestamp":1787797505477,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,17]],"date-time":"2022-03-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1647475200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100008005","name":"Yonsei University College of Medicine","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["6-2020-0153"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["6-2020-0153"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100008005","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003710","name":"Korea Health Industry Development Institute","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["HI21C1574"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["HI21C1574"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003710","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Diagnostics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The nine-step test is a classical method for evaluating Eustachian tube function. It directly assesses the patient\u2019s capacity to equilibrate middle ear pressure by swallowing. However, there are insufficient studies to appraise its diagnostic performance. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, and cut-off value of the nine-step test in patients with obstructive Eustachian tube dysfunction (oETD) and patulous Eustachian tube (PET). Enrolled subjects were divided into three groups. Control (50 ears of healthy volunteers), oETD (19 ears with oETD), and PET (29 ears with PET). Receiver operating characteristics curve analysis was conducted to evaluate the diagnostic performance of maximal peak pressure difference (ETTmd) in the nine-step test. Both the oETD group and the PET group showed decreased ETTmd. The nine-step test showed moderate accuracy when used to diagnose oETD (area under the curve = 0.875) and PET (area under the curve = 0.769). The highest diagnostic performance was observed when the cut-off value was 13 daPa for both the oETD group (sensitivity = 73.7%, specificity = 90.0%) and the PET group (sensitivity = 58.6%, specificity = 90.0%). The nine-step test has moderate diagnostic performance for oETD and PET.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/diagnostics12030732","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,20]],"date-time":"2022-03-20T21:26:22Z","timestamp":1647811582000},"page":"732","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Revisiting the Diagnostic Performance of the Modified Nine-Step Test for Obstructive and Patulous Eustachian Tube Dysfunction"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9243-9392","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Seong Hoon","family":"Bae","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Seojin","family":"Moon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mincheol","family":"Jeong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3951-5074","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"In Seok","family":"Moon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"407","DOI":"10.1111\/coa.12475","article-title":"Eustachian tube dysfunction: Consensus statement on definition, types, clinical presentation and diagnosis","volume":"40","author":"Schilder","year":"2015","journal-title":"Clin. 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