Bench and bedside advances in otitis media.
OBJECTIVE
Otitis media continues to be an important pediatric illness and requires significant expenditures in management and treatment. Despite its prevalence and importance, clinicians often have significant knowledge deficits regarding the most up-to-date research or clinical thinking regarding this disease. The present review aims to discuss recent and important publications related to otitis media and present an analysis of some of these findings.


RESULTS
Major basic science and clinical themes related to otitis media are discussed and include the importance of biofilms in otitis media pathogenesis, the evidence that otitis media with effusion impacts development, the impact of otitis media treatment on quality of life, risk factors associated with otitis media and current concepts with respect to vaccine strategies and otitis media.


CONCLUSIONS
Important basic and clinical research in the field of otitis media continues to clarify our understanding of the pathogenesis of this disease and drive new paradigms in treatment and clinical management.
Kerschner
Joseph E
JE
Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology, Department of Otolaryngology and Communication Sciences, MedicalCollege of Wisconsin, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226, USA. kersch@mcw.edu
D018441:Biofilms; D002648:Child; D002658:Developmental Disabilities; D006801:Humans; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011788:Quality of Life; D012307:Risk Factors