Middle ear effusion among children after acute otitis media. A diagnostic problem

Acute suppurative otitis media is a common childhood disease. A frequent complication is a non-purulent middle ear effusion. The diagnosis of this disturbance is by no means simple. The sensitivity and the specificity of tympanometry, stapedial reflex measurement and audiometric pure tone screening at two frequencies were compared to the oto-microscopic findings in a follow-up study among children treated for acute suppurative otitis media. Tympanometry with a pressure limit of -100 mm H2O can be used as a simple screening procedure after the initial treatment to help select those patients requiring further treatment.