title: Otitis media with effusion: a steroid and antibiotic therapeutic trial before surgery.
abstract: Eustachian tube dysfunction has been considered the main factor in the etiology of otitis media with effusion (OME). A short-term systemic steroid therapy, with combined chemotherapeutics, yielded 53.1% cure in 160 children in which OME had been diagnosed, whereas only 12.5% of similar 116 children were cured by chemotherapeutic treatment alone. It is postulated that steroids, acting by a mechanism much similar to the one in the newborn lung, increase the level of a tubal surface active agent, thus enhancing Eustachian tube refunctioning. This combined treatment, we believe, deserves its place as a routine conservative trial before surgery.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000667:Ampicillin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D011241:Prednisone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013501:Surface-Active Agents
chemical_list: D013501:Surface-Active Agents; D000667:Ampicillin; D011241:Prednisone