Serous Otitis Media

Abstract

Serous otitis media is arousing increasing interest among otologists, partly because the incidence of the disease seems to have grown and partly because its treatment in many cases affords difficult problems. If left untreated, it changes into chronic adhesive otitis and resultant severely impaired hearing. Treatment must be started before irreversible changes have occurred in the tympanum and the eustachian tube. Chronic cases of serous otitis media which are often refractory to all conventional therapy can be successfully treated by an indwelling plastic tube in the tympanum. The latent mastoiditis which frequently accompanies the condition must first be cured.