In this issue of the Journal, investigators in Pittsburgh and in Turku, Finland, respond to the question of whether infants and young children with acute otitis media benefit from amoxicillin– clavulanate therapy initiated at the time of diagnosis.1,2 Physicians who cared for children 50 years ago would be surprised — more likely shocked — that the question is being asked. Before antimicrobial ...

Otitis media and otitis media with effusion are among the most common childhood illnesses and contribute a great deal to health care costs. The cause of otitis media is multifactorial. Eustachian tube dysfunction, bacterial or viral infection of the middle ear, and nasal inflammation resulting from allergic rhinitis or upper respiratory infection are acknowledged contributing factors. Data from...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW This study aimed to review the literature regarding the mechanisms of transition from asymptomatic colonization to induction of otitis media and how the insight into the pathogenesis of otitis media has the potential to help design future otitis media-directed vaccines. RECENT FINDINGS Respiratory viruses have long been shown to predispose individuals to bacterial respirator...

Introduction  Chronic otitis media can cause multiple middle ear pathogeneses. The surgeon should be aware of relation between ossicular chain erosion and other destructions because of the possibility of complications. Objective  This study aimed to investigate the rates of ossicular erosion in cases of patients with and without facial nerve canal destruction, who had undergone mastoidectomy du...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether chronic suppurative otitis media may cause sensorineural hearing loss. METHODS The files of 121 patients with unilateral chronic suppurative otitis media were reviewed in a retrospective study. Air conduction and bone conduction threshold averages were calculated over the speech frequencies (500 Hz, 1,000 Hz, and 2,000 Hz). Thresholds at 4 kHz were examined sepa...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the histopathologic changes of dark, transitional, and hair cells of the vestibular system in human temporal bones from patients with chronic otitis media. STUDY DESIGN Comparative human temporal bone study. SETTING Otopathology laboratory. SUBJECTS AND METHODS To compare the density of vestibular dark, transitional, and hair cells in temporal bones with and without ...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether there is an association between otitis media with effusion and laryngopharyngeal reflux in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study included 31 children with otitis media with effusion. The pepsinogen level in the middle ear fluid of all patients was measured by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Each patient's middle ear fluid was investigated for He...

Introduction: Citelli’s abscess is an extratemporal complication of otitis media. It occurs when pus from the mastoid tip trickles down along the posterior belly of the digastric muscle to the occipital and cervical region. It is a very unusual presenting complication of chronic otitis media with no available data in the until now.   Case Report: A 10-year-old female was presented to our outpat...