Elimination diets in the treatment of secretory otitis media.

The significance of elimination diets in the treatment of secretory otitis media (SOM) and the usefulness of the cytotoxic leucocyte test (CLT) in the planning of elimination diets were investigated. Sixty-seven children with SOM were tested with CLT and treated with or without elimination diets in addition to the established SOM-treatment. After two years of observation in patients with multiple CLT-reactions (50) there was an almost significant difference (P less than 0.06) in the cure rates and a significant difference (P less than 0.02) in the percentages of therapeutic failures between those treated with (32) and those treated without (18) elimination diets. No marked difference was found between patients, who did not have multiple CLT-reactions (17) and were treated without diets and patients who were treated with diets for multiple CLT-reactions (32). It was concluded that elimination diets are needed in the treatment of SOM for those patients who have multiple reactions in the CLT and that the CLT is useful in the planning of these elimination diets.