A clinical study of acute mastoiditis and mastoid lesions associated with pediatric otitis media

Abstract

Increased otitis media rendering acute mastoiditis and mastoid lesions severe or intractable appear to be related to dominant drug-resistant strains and the dissemination of nursery school attendance. Acute mastoiditis involves middle-ear inflammation spreading to the antrum mastoideum and accompanied by subcutaneous abscess. This emergency condition risks progression to subperiosteal abscess and meningitis. Mastoid cavity opacity in computed tomography (CT) scan often occurs with recurrent or intractable otitis media similar to that with mastoiditis. Four of the 8 cases of mastoiditis we treated were infant in whom upper respiratory tract pneumococcus and group A streptococcus were detected. Treatment involved antibiotics and myringotomy in all cases and surgery in two. Nine of the 10 cases of mastoid lesions with otitis media we saw were infant. All had pneumococcus detected, with accociated sinusitis.