Tympanic membrane retraction the nose with laser or balloon dilatation is being evaluated as a potential treatment for tympanic membrane retraction. Excision of the retracted segment of an eardrum, with or without placement of a tympanostomy tube has been advocated. Healing of the area can result in a more normal eardrum. Laser therapy has been used to shrink and stiffen retraction pockets. Tympanoplasty is the surgical technique of removal of the retracted area from the middle ear and reconstruction of the tympanic membrane. Some surgeons use cartilage (taken from the outer ear) to stiffen the eardrum with the aim of preventing further retraction.
Membrane gas separation when the pores in the polymer membrane appear and disappear faster relative to the movement of the particles. In a typical membrane system the incoming feed stream is separated into two components: permeant and retentate. Permeant is the gas that travels across the membrane and the retentate is what is left of the feed. On both sides of the membrane, a gradient of chemical potential is maintained by a pressure difference which is the driving force for the gas molecules to pass through. The ease of transport of each species is quantified by the permeability, P. With the assumptions of