Modern Trends in the Treatment of Chronic Suppurative Middle Ear Disease *

WE are now at a most exciting period in the history of otology-you might even call it a renaissance. Certainly the basic structure of the subject is undergoing vast changes, and to keep in the front line of these changes and the impact they make is a challenge in itself. Even the theories about the pathogenesis of chronic suppurative otitis media, unchallenged for one hundred years, are being critically reassessed. A patient suffering from this condition usually gives a history of a discharging ear, often intermittent, frequenitlv beginninig in earl,y life and sometimes accompanied by pain. Hearing is impaired to a variable degree, often severely, but