Treatment of chronic ear disease. Topical ciprofloxacin vs topical gentamicin.

OBJECTIVE

To determine and compare the therapeutic efficiency of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride and gentamicin sulfate in the treatment of chronic ear disease.

DESIGN

Prospective randomized study.

SETTING

Academic tertiary medical center.

PATIENTS

Consecutive referred sample of 44 patients with chronic suppurative otitis media randomized into two groups.

INTERVENTIONS

Ciprofloxacin hydrochloride (200 mg/mL) was administered to the first group (composed of 24 patients), while the second group (composed of 20 patients) received gentamicin sulfate (5 mg/mL) locally, five drops three times a day for 10 days.

RESULTS

In the ciprofloxacin group, 21 (88%) of the 24 patients with suppurative chronic otitis media were cured. On the other hand, only six (30%) of the patients in the gentamicin group were cured. The rest of the patients showed no clinical or bacteriological improvement.

CONCLUSIONS

To our knowledge, this is the first study to compare the efficiency of two topical otic preparations in the treatment of chronic ear disease. The results show that topical ciprofloxacin preparation is more efficacious and efficient than topical gentamicin for the treatment of chronic otitis media in the acute stage.