[Complications of chronic otitis media]

The complications of chronic otitis media have become less frequent since the advent of antibiotics. However, they continue to show a high incidence in developing countries.

The aim of this study was to determine the impact of these complications in Morocco and to study the epidemiological, clinical, paraclinical and therapeutic patterns.

This is a retrospective study conducted between January 1998 and December 2005. All patients presenting to the ENT department of the hôpital du 20 Août of Casablanca, Morocco, with complications of chronic otitis media and hospitalized during this period were included.

We selected 47 out of 824 patients hospitalized for chronic otitis media, for a 5.7% incidence of complications, including 15 intracranial complications (1.8%) dominated by meningitis (nine cases) and cerebral abscess (five cases), and 32 extracranial complications (3.8%) dominated by mastoiditis (21 cases) and facial paralysis (eight cases). The cholesteatoma was found in 70% of the patients. The open atticomastoidectomy was the surgical technique chosen in 80% of the cases, associated with specific treatment depending on the complication. Progression was favorable in 90% of the cases.

With this study, the authors review the high incidence of complications of chronic otitis media in Morocco, and therefore the need to diagnose and treat all cases of chronic otitis media early to prevent the very dangerous (for example, intracranial) complications.