Treatment guidelines for otitis media: the need for breadth and flexibility.

The recent issuance of guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of otitis media with effusion in young children is an effort to provide direction for the practitioner in managing this common condition. Although the guidelines may often prove helpful, practitioners will need to maintain some degree of flexibility in dealing with patients both with acute otitis media and with otitis media with effusion, based on specific patient-related and disease-related factors.