[Bacteria in the middle ear and nasopharynx in patients with chronic otitis media]

The pre- and postoperative aural and postoperative nasopharyngeal bacteriology of 104 ears (100 patients), still moist or discharging after surgery, were studied. Preoperatively aural and postoperatively dry ears (83 patients) of reference group were registered as well. All ears had been operated on radically with obliterative technique as described by Palva (1963, 1973) because of chronic otitis media with or without cholesteatoma. The preoperative bacteriology of the postoperatively moist or discharging cars did not differ statistically from that of the ears in the reference group. The same bacteria were detected pre- and postoperatively in the same ears in 44.1% of the ears in the former group and this situation was noticed highly significantly often regarding Pseudomonas aeruginosa (p less than 0.001) and almost significantly often regarding Proteus sp. (p less than 0.05). The postoperative nasopharyngeal bacteriology of the two groups mentioned did not differ statistically and only in six out of 100 cases the same pathogenic bacteria could be simultaneously cultured in the postoperatively moist or discharging ear and nasopharynx of the same patient.