[Neurological complication in 3 children with acute otitis media].

Three boys aged 6, 7 and 4 years, had experienced fever, vomiting, headache and/or an otorrhoea for about a week. Then the clinical picture of acute otitis media exacerbated by a thrombosis of a sigmoid sinus in the 4- and 6-year-old and by brain infarcts in the 7-year-old. Treatment consisted of antibiotics and the youngest two also underwent surgery. The 6-year-old made a good recovery, the 7-year-old retained motor aphasia and hemiparalysis and the 4-year-old died. Although the incidence of acute otitis media complications has decreased since the widespread introduction of antibiotics, the complications are severe enough to warrant particular care in the treatment of these patients. The early recognition of a complicated acute otitis media and the immediate start of an appropriate therapy may lower the morbidity and mortality rates associated with this condition.