A new trial conducted by UK researchers has found that children experiencing complications due to a middle ear infection can reduce instances of hearing loss and avoid ineffective antibiotics by using a nasal balloon. Tubes can also be inserted into children’s ear canals to help drain fluid, however they are not always effective in solving the issue and not all children are good candidates for the surgery.
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Half of the children in the study were asked to blow into a nozzle through each nostril in order to inflate a balloon.
“So many children get glue ear who don’t get any treatment”. OME is a condition in which the middle ear fills with a thick fluid that can interfere with hearing development in children. There are frequently no symptoms, and parents often seek medical help only when hearing difficulties occur.
The researchers studied 320 children aged four to 11 years from 43 family practices in the United Kingdom who had a confirmed history of OME with fluid in one or both ears.
In most cases doctors prescribe treatments for “glue ear” that involve antibiotics, antihistamines, decongestants and intranasal steroids, but according to Dr. Ian Williamson, Primary Care and Population Sciences, University of Southampton, UK, all these are not only ineffective, but also could have unwanted side effects.
Effect of nasal balloon autoinflation in children with otitis media with effusion in primary care: an open randomized controlled trial.
A new study has found that children who have otitis media with effusion can be effectively treated with just a simple and nonsurgical option.
The results showed the children receiving auto-inflation were more likely than those in the control group to have normal middle-ear pressure after one month – 47.3% and 35.6%, respectively – and also three months – 49.6% and 38.3%.
The children were randomised to either a control group that received standard care or a group that received standard care with auto-inflation three times a day for one to three months. The children in the autoinflation group also had fewer days with symptoms.
Dr. Williamson and his team concluded that autoinflation is a simple and low-cost procedure that adults can explain to children “in a primary-care setting with a reasonable expectation of compliance”.
In a CMAJ commentary accompanying the report, Chris Del Mar, MD, and Tammy Hoffmann, PhD, of Bond University in Australia, wrote that autoinflation is often underrepresented in clinical practice because “getting the message to clinicians about effective nondrug treatments is much harder than it is for drug treatments”. Previous studies were too small to warrant any type of widespread recommendation that doctors start using the device.
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Researchers hope nasal balloons will be more commonplace, but before instituting this treatment on a larger scale, researchers are aware they must first test the method’s effectiveness more in-depth, and then teach both the patients and their families how to use it.
