Tympanic effusions. A retrospective and prospective investigation into their aetiology and treatment

Abstract

In 498 patients under the age of 10 who underwent adenoidectomy, and in 423 similarly aged ones who underwent adeno-tonsillectomy, the pre- and postoperative presence of a tympanic effusion was assessed. The presence of effusion was correlated with adenoid size, age, sex, haemoglobin count, hearing loss, and eosinophil count, and the results compared with a similar investigation performed some years ago in which the patients had been treated in the same way except that those suspected of having serous otitis media were myringotomized, in contrast to the present group. Myringotomy did not appear to significantly affect the presence of postoperative effusions which seem to occur quite independently of the above mentioned surgical interventions.