OBJECTIVE: To study the contralateral ear of patients with chronic otitis media (COM). DESIGN: Transversal. SETTING: Tertiary referral center. PATIENTS: A total of 500 consecutive patients who had been diagnosed as having COM with or without cholesteatoma. INTERVENTIONS: Digital otoendoscopy was performed on both ears. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Pathologic alterations in the contralateral ear. RESULTS: In 75.2% of the patients, the contralateral ear was found to have some structural abnormalities; 60.4% of the patients presented with COM without cholesteatoma, and in this group, 69.9% had an abnormal contralateral ear. In those with cholesteatoma, the contralateral ear was found to be abnormal in 83.3%. The most frequent finding in both groups was retraction of the tympanic membrane. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with COM in 1 ear have a high chance of presenting with some degree of disease in the contralateral side. We believe that our findings suggest that COM should be ideally approached not as a static pathological incident affecting 1 ear but rather as an on-going process that may affect both ears.
OBJECTIVE: To study the contralateral ear of patients with chronic otitis media (COM). DESIGN: Transversal. SETTING: Tertiary referral center. PATIENTS: A total of 500 consecutive patients who had been diagnosed as having COM with or without cholesteatoma. INTERVENTIONS: Digital otoendoscopy was performed on both ears. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Pathologic alterations in the contralateral ear. RESULTS: In 75.2% of the patients, the contralateral ear was found to have some structural abnormalities; 60.4% of the patients presented with COM without cholesteatoma, and in this group, 69.9% had an abnormal contralateral ear. In those with cholesteatoma, the contralateral ear was found to be abnormal in 83.3%. The most frequent finding in both groups was retraction of the tympanic membrane. CONCLUSIONS:Patients with COM in 1 ear have a high chance of presenting with some degree of disease in the contralateral side. We believe that our findings suggest that COM should be ideally approached not as a static pathological incident affecting 1 ear but rather as an on-going process that may affect both ears.
Authors: Letícia Petersen Schmidt Rosito; Neil Sperling; Adriane Ribeiro Teixeira; Fábio André Selaimen; Sady Selaimen da Costa Journal: Biomed Res Int Date: 2018-02-21 Impact factor: 3.411