Ear Woes

Common Surgery No Help For Child Ear Woes - A Study

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Release at 4 p.m. EDT Taking out a child's tonsils and adenoids does little to combat ear infections, even though that is the reason such surgeries are often performed, according to a study published Tuesday.

"Given that we found both operations to have limited efficacy and in view of their not inconsiderable risks, morbidity and costs, we believe that neither benefit children with chronic middle ear infections, the report from Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh said".

"Instead we believe that no surgical management should be attempted first, with tube placement to be considered later and then consider a tonsil surgical recourse if the burden of illness becomes intolerable, " it added. After that, adenoid removal should be considered in cases where middle ear infections continue despite the use of ear tubes, it said.

The study, published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, was based on a look at 461 children age 3 to15. Some underwent surgery to remove adenoids, others both adenoids and tonsils and others had no surgery. The report concluded that surgery offered only modest help against otitis media -- the middle ear inflammation that affects one in every six children in the first year of life and often remains common through childhood.

Removal of tonsils, adenoids or both is the most commonly performed major surgical operations among U.S. children, according to the article, with 420,000 children under the age of 15 undergoing such operations in 1994. The authors said the primary or secondary surgical diagnosis underlying many such surgeries is otitis media.

12:12 09-07-99