Last week you answered a question about infection in the middle ear. My 2 and a half-year-old son has a condition called glue ear and his paediatrician has referred him to an ENT surgeon for possible operation. What is this condition, what causes it and does he really have to have the operation?
“Glue Ear” (or serous otitis media to give it its medical name) is a condition in which there is a collection of fluid in the middle ear on a persistent basis. This is due to poor drainage of the middle ear by the tube, which drains into the nose (even though the common cold is not present).
This may lead to repeated ear infections because the fluid provides a suitable place for bacteria to grow. It can also cause a hearing loss. The ENT surgeon can cut the eardrum under general anaesthesia. He/she can suck out the fluid and place a tiny drainage tube in the eardrum that will drain fluid and prevent the fluid from rea cumulating.
If there is temporary deafness speech development is inhibited but this will pick up once the deafness resolves. Glue ear usually resolves by itself and studies done comparing children who have their glue ear treated by surgery with those in whom no surgery was done have found no difference between the 2 groups after 5 years. Even the speech had picked up so that the 2 groups had similar speech and intelligence at the end of the 5 years. There is no doubt that surgery restores hearing immediately.
I hope this helps you make up your mind as to whether to have the surgery done on your son.
No comments:
Post a Comment