Sunday, June 20, 2010
What is Otitis Media?
Otitis Media simply means infection or inflammation of the middle ear due to the agglomeration of fluid.
-Irritably
-Fever, vomitting
-Difficult to pay attention
-Unresponsive to quiet sound
-Difficult to sleep
-Severe earache
-Using otoscope. It allows the doctor to blow a puff of air into the eardrum to test eardrum movement.
-Using auriscope. It allows doctor to see if there is any fluid leaking into the outer ear.
-Tympanometry which requires insertion of a small soft plug into the opening of the child’s ear canal that is able to alter the air pressure, in order to have several measures of the middle ear.
-Medically:
Patients are given antibiotics in cases where the infection is severe and unlikely for mild cases, as some bacterial have turned out to be less resistant to the antibiotics
-Surgically:
There are several kinds the patients can look up to if they want to treat Otitis Media through myringotomy which is to put a hole in the eardrum and let the infection drain out, often required if the fluid remains for more than 3 months and is linked with a loss of hearing.
One is Tympanostomy tubes or "T tubes" that is inserted into the eardrum which provide for drainage of fluid and hearing may recover quickly. These tubes usually come out by themselves in about 6 months. The other way is to use a laser to open a hole in the eardrum rather than using a tube.
The eardrum usually stays open for 2-4 weeks. It can also be treated by Tympanocentesis whereby the eardrum is punctured using a scalpel under anesthesia. The hole in the eardrum usually closes up within 24-48 hours.
The outlook in most people with a middle ear infection is very good and the infection and its symptoms usually go away completely after treatment. However, if left unattended, otitis media can lead to an infection within the nearby mastoid bone, called mastoiditis. Otitis Media can also influence the development of speech and language of the children.
Patients treated for Acute Otitis Media have an excellent prognosis. Once analgesia and/or antibiotics are given, most patients recover quickly over the course of 2 to 3 days.
