The long term effect of adenoidectomy on established otitis media with effusion in children.

Adenoidectomy is a recommended treatment for otitis media with effusion (OME). This work up-dates a previous report and includes a larger number of 155 cases. Surgery has been allocated at random with a control non-adenoidectomy group. The study is prospective and allows for a wide variety of variables. These include age, sex, adenoid size, seasonal variation, observer accuracy, and spontaneous resolution. Adenoidectomy results in clearance of OME even one year following operation in 31-45% of cases. Clearance is related to the duration of history of hearing loss though this may reflect on age effect. Tonsillectomy provides no additional benefit.