[Clinical course of mastoiditis as reported by the specialized emergency care hospital]

In the last decade diverse clinical manifestations of mastoiditis have been reported. This paper describes specific features of the clinical development, diagnostic value of individual symptoms, and complications in 90 cases of mastoiditis treated in the otorhinolaryngological department of the Clinical Hospital for Emergency Medical Care, city of Sverdlovsk, during 1984-1988. The observations allow the conclusion that during acute otitis media the duration of mastoiditis development reduced and many classical symptoms of mastoiditis, e. g. protrusion of the posterior-superior wall of the external acoustic meatus, profuse purulent discharge from the ear, hyperemia, swelling of the behind-the-ear area, occurred less frequently. The incidence of such life-threatening complications as meningitis and meningoencephalitis increased noticeably. It means that the list of indications for hospitalization of patients with acute otitis media should be extended.