PARACENTESIS TYMPANI or, better, myringotomy, means the incision of the tympanic membrane. It was first advocated and used by a Parisian charlatan named Eli, who flourished in the latter part of the eighteenth century. It had its first legitimate employment at the hands of Himley and Cooper during the beginning of the nineteenth century. The indications for the operation at this time were legio...

BACKGROUND Pharyngeal bacteria are exposed to different sugar conditions depending on the diet of the child. We hypothesized that dietary factors such as daily intake of carbohydrates could be associated with pneumococcal carriage and the occurrence of otitis media in children. METHODS Our study design was a cross-sectional study among 1006 children attending child day care centers. Parents f...

BACKGROUND The OM6 is a 6-item condition-specific handicap measure developed in the United States for children with recurrent acute otitis media and otitis media with effusion. Easy and quick to use, it has high test-retest repeatability and is sensitive to change after ventilation tube insertion. OBJECTIVES To explore aspects of the validity of OM6 in a United Kingdom population and to speci...

BACKGROUND National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance to treat otitis media in older children immediately with antibiotics only if they have ear discharge is based on limited evidence. AIM To determine the clinical significance and outcome of ear discharge in children with acute otitis media, in routine clinical practice. DESIGN OF STUDY Observational cohort study...

We compared the duration of otorrhea (a discharge from the ear) and caregiver satisfaction in children with otitis media who were treated with a combination drug containing ciprofloxacin/dexamethasone versus ofloxacin. Otorrhea was cured sooner and patients improved more rapidly after administration of ciprofloxacin and dexamethasone. Consequently, caregivers of children with acute otitis media...