Ds. Hurst et K. Fredens, EOSINOPHIL CATIONIC PROTEIN IN MUCOSAL BIOPSIES FROM PATIENTS WITH ALLERGY AND OTITIS-MEDIA WITH EFFUSION, Otolaryngology and head and neck surgery, 117(1), 1997, pp. 42-48
Nine patients with persistent middle ear effusion and allergy confirme
d by skin testing were evaluated for eosinophils by histochemical stai
ning of middle ear mucosal biopsy specimens for eosinophil cationic pr
otein, The study was designed to determine whether eosinophils were pr
esent in the middle ear mucosa of these patients and whether the eleva
ted levels of eosinophil cationic protein reported in effusion from pa
tients with chronic otitis media with effusion and allergy might origi
nate within the mucosa itself, Seven of nine patients with otitis medi
a with effusion had eosinophil cationic protein containing eosinophils
(12 to 15 per high-power field) and degranulated eosinophil cationic
protein material in the stroma of their mucosal biopsy specimens, Posi
tive and negative biopsy findings correlated directly with respective
high and low effusion levels of eosinophil cationic protein (p = 0.03)
, reflecting an intrinsic immune-mediated process occurring within the
middle ear mucosa.