EFFECT OF PENICILLIN ON FORMATION OF FIBROUS ADHESIONS IN ACUTE OTITIS-MEDIA

Fibrous middle ear adhesions are occasionally encountered in middle ea r surgery and may cause a hearing impairment. Although usually associa ted with chronic otitis media, adhesions are also found following a si ngle episode of experimental acute suppurative otitis media, suggestin g a pathogenesis based on the inflammatory process engaging acute infe ction. In a well-established rat model of pneumococcal acute otitis me dia, we report on the effect of penicillin V on formation of fibrous m iddle ear adhesions. Previous studies have shown marked impact of peni cillin on mucosal goblet cell density and other histopathologic featur es. Number, anatomic localization, and histopathologic morphology of a dhesions were assessed in a longitudinal study of 25 normal, 25 untrea ted, and 25 treated rats. Although penicillin administration induced a slight tendency toward fewer ears with adhesions and fewer adhesions per ear, these changes were nonsignificant. Histomorphology and the ge neral pattern of anatomic localization of adhesions were unaffected by penicillin administration. We conclude that administration of penicil lin has an inconspicuous effect on the formation of fibrous adhesions in experimental acute otitis media caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae.