Prognosis of otitis media with effusion in children, and size of the mastoid air cell system.

We studied 334 ears in 176 patients who were chosen from children diagnosed as having otitis media with effusion (OME) at our clinic. These 176 patients were re-examined about 5 years and 10 months after the first visit and categorized into three groups according to otological findings at the time of review: group A (normal), group B (sequelae), group C (OME). For this study, 168 ears of 86 persons were examined by roentgenography both at the time of the first visit and at review, and the size of mastoid pneumatization and differences in size between the three groups were compared. The results of the investigation can be summarized as follows. The size of mastoid pneumatization in group A was large at the time of the first visit and the increase in size was also greater than in the other two groups. These results led us to conclude that the degree of mastoid pneumatization is an important prognostic sign of the clinical course of OME and provides important information about treatment.