A prospective trial of unilateral grommets for bilateral secretory otitis media in children.

Fifty-four children with established chronic secretory otitis media, who had failed to respond to medical measures were treated with adenoidectomy and insertion of 1 grommet on a side chosen at random. Both sides improved and remained significantly improved at 12 months (P less than 0.001). At 3 months, the side with the grommet improved significantly more than the other side (P less than 0.05) but at 12 months there was no significant difference between the 2 sides (P greater than 0.1).