What is serous otitis media? This is a fairly serious ailment, characterized by the accumulation of a huge amount of sulfur in the ear canals. When this problem is identified, it is definitely worth starting to engage in therapy. When the pathological process begins to develop, most often the first side effect from it is inflammation, it appears due to viral agents.
What are the features of the development of the disease?
In most cases, this disease can be determined by some criteria: a person's ear canals begin to swell, eardrums turn red. When submitting a bacterial culture, pathogenic organisms will definitely be available - they are the causative agents of the disease.
After the manifestation of the first signs, inflammation of the auditory tube begins due to the high accumulation of sulfur in it. Very often you can notice that during the inflammatory process a person loses a little auditory perception. During the swallowing of saliva, congestion in the ear is clearly felt. What provokesdisease occurrence?
More than fifty percent of cases of inflammation of the auditory tube appear due to bacterial agents, and fungus or viruses are to blame for all other cases. Most often, the doctor uses a conservative method of treatment, but if a person already has an advanced stage of the disease, then in this case he will need surgery.
work of the Eustachian tubes. Most cases have been in newborns. The causative agents are most often parainfluenza or influenza viruses.
It is worth noting that very often those children who were born with a "cleft palate" develop serous otitis media. In order to get rid of this ailment, various methods of treatment are used.
Actions of a specialist when a disease is detected
After the diagnosis of serous otitis media, the very first event that is carried out to get rid of the disease is the sanitation of the oral cavity and nasopharynx. To do this, the doctor takes the necessary medications and injects them into the ear canal.
As for the nasal cavity, it is treated with special vasoconstrictor drugs. Each time the doctor is obliged to individually prescribe the duration of treatment, since each person may have a variety of symptoms of the course of the disease and stagesneglect.
If otitis in a person is provoked by allergic reactions, then it can be cured with the help of special antihistamine drugs. In no case should you self-medicate, and all procedures should be carried out strictly after permission and under the supervision of a doctor.
If, after two weeks, the patient does not improve, then the doctor is obliged to take measures of surgical intervention - shunting of the inflammatory process of the middle ear. This option further contributes to the acceleration of treatment. There are situations when a person needs to install a drain, but this only happens when the inflammation has spread from the ear canal to other areas.
Causes of serous otitis media
Most often, the development of this pathological process can be seen in the presence of some provoking factors:
- Appearance of viral agents in the ear canals;
- Eustachian tubes begin to malfunction;
- If pathogens were able to defeat the immune system and have a negative impact on the ear canal.
The initial stage of serous otitis in children can occur even if the Eustachian tubes have been disrupted for a short period of time. These pipes differ in that they are responsible for ear protection, ventilation and drainage.
In young children, therefore, this disease is observed more often than in adults, because the Eustachian tubes are not yet fully developed and are in a virtually horizontal position. Otitis can alsoappear in preschool children, as they tend to get frequent colds and viruses.
If a person has a predisposition to allergic reactions that develop most in the upper organs of the respiratory system, then he should also be wary of the development of serous otitis media.
In fact, every otolaryngologist claims that those people who suffer from allergies throughout the year also suffer from this disease. The risk group for the disease can also be attributed to those patients who have a predisposition to the appearance of atopy on food.
What are the clinical manifestations of this disease?
If the stage of development of inflammation has an initial stage, then you can notice the manifestation of symptoms such as:
- Inflammatory process in the mucosa. Most often it has a catarrhal character.
- Violation in ventilation.
- In the Eustachian tubes, the development of the inflammatory process is also noticed.
Inflammation of the middle ear - symptoms in an adult patient
Depending on how the pathology develops, a person may begin to hear himself in the ear - this is due to the fact that a vacuum appears in the tympanic cavity. If the stage of development of the pathology is of an initial nature, then the violation of sound perception is not very pronounced. This stage lasts about a month.
After the next stage begins, which is characterized by the accumulation of exudate in the eardrum. The amount of mucus in the middle ear becomes much more than normal. From this, a person begins to feel noises, overcrowding of the ear.
One of the main symptoms of inflammation of the middle ear in an adult is a feeling of fluid transfusion inside. This is especially noticeable if there is a sharp change in body position. In fact, this is exactly what happens inside, the accumulated fluid in the ear apparatus begins to really shift. This stage can develop for a long time, sometimes it happens that its duration reaches several months. It is worth noting that the symptoms of each person, to the extent of the individuality of the organism, proceed differently.
Progression of disease
The development of the pathology does not end there and the third stage of the disease appears, which is called mucosal. During this period, the fluid that has accumulated in the ear cavity becomes viscous. The person begins to hear much worse. The next, fourth stage of the development of the inflammatory process is fibrous, it indicates the beginning of degenerative processes in the ear mucosa.
In most cases, if the tympanic cavity undergoes degenerative processes, then the changes are irreversible. At this point, exudate production is greatly reduced in quantity and the mucosal surface changes.
Also, do not forget about the auditory ossicles, which are also involved in the degenerative process. Most often, severe deafness is considered the most pronounced manifestation of this disease at the last station.
Key Features
This pathology occurs in everyoneperson differently. Therefore, it should be understood that if serous exudate accumulates in the ear canals, but at the same time it is not accompanied by any signs of an inflammatory process, then most likely it is serous otitis media.
He can progress for quite a long time, but at the same time have a mild or no inflammatory process at all. The fluid that accumulates in the ear canal does not begin to transform into purulent. Most often, a person feels some stuffiness in the ear, especially when swallowing saliva or food.
Basic diagnostic measures for the disease
In order to understand whether there is an inflammatory process or not, an otoscopy is mandatory. When it is carried out, you can determine the condition of the eardrum, as well as understand how much fluid is in it. If a person still suffers from serous otitis, then most often the color of the liquid becomes either yellow or gray.
In addition, you can also find out about the presence of an inflammatory process using tympanometry. This diagnostic method helps to determine the correct operation of the Eustachian tubes and the level of accumulated secretion. Frequent treatment in this case is blowing out the ears. The procedure consists in the fact that air under pressure is introduced into the auditory tube using a canister. With successful blowing, the patient feels a blowing noise. After that, the discomfort disappears. Ear blowing can also be done with a catheter.
Therapeuticmost frequently scheduled events
In no case should you postpone therapy if a chronic or acute form of this disease is detected. Most often, the disease can be cured with the help of conservative methods that help restore the patient's good quality of sound perception and return all lost functions.
General principles of therapy
These include three basic principles:
- The first is the observance of the special regime. This does not mean that a person must necessarily observe bed rest. Mandatory principles are constant ventilation of the room, maintaining humidity in it, regular wet cleaning, and if this is not possible, it is best to purchase and install a humidifier.
- The second principle is that a person should exclude from life a potential allergen that can provoke a reaction and excite the development of this disease. If this is not done, then getting rid of serous otitis will be a big problem.
- If the disease is developed in a small child, then it is best to keep him in a semi-vertical position when feeding from a bottle, and after feeding, hold the baby horizontally for a while so that he can burp.
How to treat the disease with medicines?
In most cases, the treatment of serous otitis media is prescribed medications such as:
- Histamine blockers - These drugs are popular if a person has allergic reactions.
- Corticosteroids.
- Vasoconstrictor - they are used for instillation of nasal passages.
- Antimicrobial drugs, very often they come in the form of a solution to be administered intramuscularly.
- Medications aimed at eliminating swelling of the mucous membrane, as well as restoring the work of the Eustachian tubes.
As with other diseases, the dosage and duration of use of the drug is prescribed exclusively by a specialist. It all depends on how advanced the disease is and how the pathological process proceeds.
Radical Therapy Options
Sometimes there are very neglected situations in which a conservative method of treatment is absolutely useless. Then surgery is required to help the patient get rid of serous otitis media.
If growth and exacerbation of the adenoids is noticed, this means that a compression disorder occurs in the tympanic membrane, which also disrupts the work of the auditory canals. In this option, inflamed adenoids are removed.
It is also possible to carry out catheterization of the auditory canals, which will lead to the normalization of the level of compression of the eardrums. After the procedure, the level of hearing improves significantly, and the work of the Eustachian tubes normalizes.
The specialist himself decides how to carry out surgery, while taking into account the severity of the disease in the patient.
What can be the prognosis after treatment?
In newbornsIn children, a disease such as serous otitis media can both develop quickly and heal quickly, the main thing is to start therapy on time. If this is not done, the consequences may be irreversible, the child will get hearing loss, which will also affect the development of the speech apparatus.
For children of preschool and school age, treatment should also be started on time so as not to provoke hearing loss in the future, which after it will be virtually impossible to cure.
For adults, the prognosis for absolute recovery is more favorable, even if surgery was performed.
