Serous Otitis Media

Causes of glue ear

“…In addition, Davison (1958) reported that 11 per cent of his cases were due to thyroid insufficiency, while an additional 7 per cent were suffering from immunological deficiency. More recent work has supported the notion of hypothyroidism (Freeman and Freeman, 1960;Bierman and Furukawa, 1978), though acknowledging it as responsible in only a small number of cases. The autonomic nervous system was the other control system attracting much attention (Suehs, 1952); Hilger (1949) suggested that autonomic disturbances could underlie some glue ear cases and Hoople (1950) challenged his colleagues to 'ferret out' such cases.…”

“…This became known to ENT specialists as 'candy catarrh' (Davison 1966), a view that was accepted by some (Watkins, 1955;Rapp and Fahey. 1973), but felt to be responsible in only obscure cases by others (Freeman and Freeman, 1960). The obesity theory has continued to get some support, though the only scientific study which has examined such a relationship (Tos, Poulsen and Borch, 1979) failed to provide any.…”

“…Despite such convictions, an MRC working group (MRC, 1957) reported in 1957 that deafness as a complication of acute otitis media was becoming much less common, probably as a result of the use of antibiotics. Nevertheless the antibiotic theory continued to attract support (Freeman and Freeman, 1960;Lemon, 1962;Boor, 1962;Davison, 1966) throughout the 1960s. The first sign of apprehension about the theory came in a BMJ editorial (1969) which pointed out that there was no real evidence to support it.…”

Review of Chronic Secretory Otitis and Allergy

“…Allergy is mentioned as a possible factor in the etiology of eustachian tube malfunction in articles by Freeman,20 HeisselZ8 Hoople,2° Lemon,4l P a~a r e l l a ?~ T h e~b a l d , ~~ Tremble,'" and Sade.57 Lemon4' said clinical allergy was no more suspected or diagnosed in four hundred consecutive cases than in the general population (ten to twenty percent).…”

Secretory otitis media and allergic rhinitis

“…It has shown a remarkable increase during the past few years (Shah, 1975). The rise in incidence may be due to greater awareness of the problem, increased use of antibiotics, insufficient use of myringotomy after treatment of acute otitis, new types of virulent or hypovirulent infections, conservatism in adenoidectomy in children, a poor immunity mechanism and hyperplastic nasopharyngeal tissue or an increase in allergy (Freeman and Freeman, 1960).…”