[Antimicrobial therapy in chronic suppurative otitis media]

Abstract

A randomized study was made of 125 patients with chronic middle ear infection. The most frequently isolated microorganisms were: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Enterobacteriaceae. Ciprofloxacin is very active against the microorganisms usually isolated and it has been shown to provide effective therapy in ear infections. In order to study the effectiveness of ciprofloxacin in chronic otitis media, we selected four different treatment groups: oral ciprofloxacin (500 mg/12 h); 0.5 and 0.2% topical solutions of ciprofloxacin (3 drops/8 h), and oral ciprofloxacin plus 0.2% topical solution. Topical polymyxin and neomycin were used as controls. Topical ciprofloxacin (0.2%) was the most effective regimen of those tested for the treatment of chronic otitis media.