title: Complications of mastoiditis in children at the onset of a new millennium.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to review our recent experience in the diagnosis and treatment of acute mastoiditis and its complications in a single tertiary-care, university-affiliated pediatric center. Ninety-eight children with 101 episodes of acute mastoiditis were included in the study. The mean interval from onset of illness to mastoiditis was 4.5 days. Ear cultures most often grew Streptococcus pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (23.7% each). Complications occurred in 15.8% of episodes. The only factor differentiating children with and without complications was white blood cell count. These findings indicate that acute mastoiditis not only is a complication of prolonged infection of the middle ear, but may also present as an acute infection of the mastoid bone that can progress within 48 hours. The complication rate remains high, and antibiotic treatment at the onset of symptoms does not prevent complications. A high white blood cell count on admission may serve as a predictive factor of complicated cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel, Petah Tiqva.
authors.forename: Yael
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Oestreicher-Kedem
authors.forename: Eyal
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Raveh
authors.forename: Liora
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kornreich
authors.forename: Aron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Popovtzer
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Buller
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nageris
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008417:Mastoiditis / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology*; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000150:complications*; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013701:Temporal Bone / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed