Symposium on prophylaxis and treatment of middle ear effusions.: Iii. The pathophysiology of effusion in otitis media

Abstract

Abstract An effort to characterize middle ear effusions by biochemical, histologic and physical means was undertaken in order to propose a hypothesis of the pathophysiology of serous otitis media. A group of patients numbering 145 yielded 289 specimens for study. All patients had clinical chronic otitis media. The patient population ranged in age from two months to 14 years. The following measurements were made. Microviscosity, smear with Wright's stain, total protein, glucose, alkaline phosphatase, acid phosphatase, GOT, CPK, alkaline phosphatase isoenzymes. The data indicate that middle ear effusions are locally produced and represent a nonspecific inflammatory response of the middle ear mucosa.