Otomicroscopic and histologic findings of induced myringosclerosis in rats: a critical study of an experimental model.
Myringosclerosis is characterized by hyaline changes of the lamina propria of the tympanic membrane. Experimental studies have used otomicroscopy or histology to evaluate myringosclerosis in animals, but they do not correlate precisely these two methods.


OBJECTIVE
The present study evaluates the accuracy of otomicroscopy in the diagnosis of myringosclerosis in rats.


METHODS
Experimental.


METHODS
Myringosclerosis was induced by transtympanic inoculation of Streptococcus pneumoniae in 25 Wistar rats, which were examined weekly through otomicroscopy and sacrificed after eight weeks for histologic study of their tympanic membranes.


RESULTS
From the comparison of the otomicroscopic data in relation to the histologic findings, we could observe sensibility of 80% and specificity of 75% for the otomicroscopy.


CONCLUSIONS
Considering the results in this study, otomicroscopy did not represent a good method to evaluate myringosclerosis in this experimental model.
Santos
Patrícia F
PF
Center of Health Sciences, Federal University of Pernambuco.
Leal
Mariana C
MC
Peixoto
Cristina
C
Caldas Neto
Silvio
S
Rosas
Silvania Tavares Paz
ST
D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000473:pathology*; D038781:Otoscopy / Q000379:methods; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000473:pathology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012598:Sclerosis; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae; D014432:Tympanic Membrane / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure