Superoxide Dismutase and Glutathione in Otitis Media with Effusion: Relation with Hearing Loss

Materials and Methods: Twenty-six children with serous otitis media, ages ranging between 4-14 years were prospectively included into the study. A diagnosis of OME was made on the basis of the patient’s history and examination, otoscopy, tympanogram and pure tone audiometry. The MEEs were collected via a sterile, disposable aspirator (Juhn Tym-Tap®, Xomed Inc., Jacksonville, FL 32216, USA) after myringotomy under general anesthesia. After an overnight fast in the morning (08-09 am), blood samples were drawn from patients into tubes with ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) for the measurement of GSH and SOD. Reported values of concentration of Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and glutathione (GSH) of both MEE and erythrocytes in patients with OME were used as outcome measures.