A comparative study on the clinical features of acute and chronic secretary otitis media

Objective To investigate the clinical features of acute secretary otitis media(SOM) in a comparative way with that of chronic SOM and their implications in the early diagnosis and treatment of the lesions. Methods A retrospective study was carried out among 90 cases(108 ears).They were divided into acute group and chronic one according to their ill course.Then their clinical data,especially that of acoustic immitance audiometry and pure tone audiometry,were analyzed in a comparative way between the two groups. Results The cases with acute SOM mainly showed type“B”or“C”of tympanograms and conductive hearing loss curve in pure tone augiogram,while those with chronic SOM mainly manifested type “B”of tympanograms and mixed hearing loss curve in augiogram as determined by acoustic immitance audiometry and pure tone audiometry respectively,with very significant differences in these indexes between the two groups. Conclusions Acoustic immitance audiometry can be taken as a very important diagnostic measure for SOM when used in a combined way with pure tone audiometry and it is very beneficial for the early and appropriate treatment of these conditions.