Treatment of secretory otitis media with kampo medicine.

Kampo medicine is a traditional Japanese herbal medicine that is known as Sairei-to and has been used to treat otitis media. This preparation was given orally for 4 weeks to 35 children with secretory otitis media (SOM). Four of 46 ears (8.7%) completely resolved while 32 ears (69.6%) showed a partial improvement without serious adverse reaction. Our findings indicate that Kampo medicine may resolve the inflammation and immune response associated with SOM. Further studies in its mechanism of action are warranted.