Management and outcomes of acute mastoiditis (AM) have been clearly defined in a systematic review of 19 studies. We are often asked by concerned parents- what are the hearing prospects for the long run. Yet, to the best of our knowledge, the issue of future hearing has not been addressed.
We hypothesized that children could remain with conductive hearing loss (CHL) and possibly, develop sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) due to the disease process itself, or from the drilling in the mastoid bone.
We performed a cross-sectional study and describe the audiometry results of children admitted for AM, among conservatively treated (group 1) and those who underwent a cortical mastoidectomy and insertion of a VT (group 2).
Between 2010 and 2020 we treated 280 children with AM. Twenty- four had an available audiogram, 12 in each group, performed on average 20 months after presentation with AM. Audiograms were performed either for suspicion of hearing loss or as a follow- up exam, after extrusion of the ventilation tube and there were no abnormal otoscopic findings.
A definite CHL of 10 to 20 dB could be diagnosed in 3 of the 5 patients in each group, who had bone conduction thresholds measured. SNHL was not observed in any of the patients old enough to have bone conduction tested. Among the younger patients, examined with free field testing, all had normal thresholds. A CHL of 10dBs was seen in the contralateral ear in one of the patients in group 1 and in 3 from group 2.