Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-hgkh8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T17:19:46.534Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Do tissue spears used to clear ear canal pus improve hearing? A case series study of hearing in remote Australian Aboriginal children with chronic suppurative otitis media before and after dry mopping with tissue spears

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2015

K Sparrow*
Affiliation:
Speech Pathology and Audiology, School of Health Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
L Sanchez
Affiliation:
Speech Pathology and Audiology, School of Health Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
D Turner
Affiliation:
Haematology and Genetic Pathology, School of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
P MacFarlane
Affiliation:
Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide, Australia
A S Carney
Affiliation:
Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Ms Karen Sparrow, Speech Pathology and Audiology, School of Health Sciences, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide SA 5001, Australia Fax: +61 8 8204 5935 E-mail: karen.sparrow@flinders.edu.au

Abstract

Objective:

To determine whether the use of tissue spears to remove otorrhoea from Aboriginal children's ear canals improves hearing in the affected ear.

Design:

Case series study with controls.

Methods:

The study comprised 61 Aboriginal children from communities in the remote arid zone of South Australia who had otorrhoea obscuring the tympanic membrane in 1 or both ears. Eighty ears were treated with tissue spears, and hearing was assessed before and after treatment.

Results:

Forty-two children had unilateral and 19 had bilateral active disease. An additional 13 ears without otorrhoea served as controls. Improvement by 5 dB HL or greater in a four-frequency pure tone average occurred in 41.3 per cent of treated ears. Subsequently, blinded audiologists made qualitative judgements that a functional improvement in hearing had occurred after tissue spear use in 28.4 per cent of ears.

Conclusion:

Tissue spears can improve hearing thresholds in a significant proportion of children with otorrhoea. However, the duration of the effect is unknown.

Type
Main Articles
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Presented at the Australian Society of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery annual scientific meeting pre-meeting workshop, 31 March 2012, Adelaide, Australia, the XXXI World Congress of Audiology, 29 April – 3 May 2012, Moscow, Russia, and the XX Audiology Australia National Conference, 1–4 July 2012, Adelaide, Australia.

References

1World Health Organization. Prevention of hearing impairment from chronic otitis media. In: http://www.who.int/pbd/deafness/en/chronic_otitis_media.pdf [28 October 2015]Google Scholar
2Couzos, S, Murray, R. Aboriginal Primary Health Care: An Evidence Based Approach, 3rd edn.Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2008Google Scholar
3Morris, P, Leach, A, Silberberg, P, Mellon, G, Wilson, C, Hamilton, E et al. Otitis media in young Aboriginal children from remote communities in Northern and Central Australia: a cross-sectional survey. BMC Pediatr 2005;5:27Google Scholar
4Verhoeff, M, van der Veen, EL, Rovers, MM, Sanders, EA, Schilder, AG. Chronic suppurative otitis media: a review. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2006;70:112Google Scholar
5Sanchez, L, Sparrow, K, Carney, AS, Turner, D. Whole-of-population studies of ear health and hearing in remote and urban Indigenous school-age children in South Australia. Public Health Bulletin SA 2010;7:2731Google Scholar
6An evaluation of the benefits of swimming pools for the hearing and ear health of young Indigenous Australians. A whole of population study across multiple remote Indigenous communities. In: http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/uploads/resources/24227_24227.pdf [28 October 2015]Google Scholar
7Hughes, H, Hughes, M. Indigenous Education 2012. Policy Monograph 129. In: http://www.cis.org.au/app/uploads/2015/07/pm129.pdf [28 October 2015]Google Scholar
8How young Indigenous people are faring: Key indicators 1996–2006. In: http://dusseldorp.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/how-young-indigenous-people-are-faring.pdf [28 October 2015]Google Scholar
9Macfadyen, CA, Acuin, JM, Gamble, C. Systemic antibiotics versus topical treatments for chronically discharging ears with underlying eardrum perforations. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2006;(1):CD005608Google Scholar
10Darwin Otitis Guidelines Group in collaboration with the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Otitis Media Technical Advisory Group. Recommendations for Clinical Care Guidelines on the Management of Otitis Media in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Populations (2010). Canberra: Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, 2010Google Scholar
11Smith, AW, Hatcher, J, Mackenzie, IJ, Thompson, S, Bal, I, Macharia, I et al. Randomised controlled trial of treatment of chronic suppurative otitis media in Kenyan schoolchildren. Lancet 1996;348:1128–33Google Scholar
12Roeser, R, Glorig, A. Pure tone audiometry in noise with auraldomes. Audiology 1975;14:144–51Google Scholar
13Macfadyen, CA, Acuin, JM, Gamble, CL. Topical antibiotics without steroids for chronically discharging ears with underlying eardrum perforations. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2005;(4):CD004618CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14Coates, H, Morris, P, Leach, A, Couzos, S. Otitis media in Aboriginal children: tackling a major health problem. Med J Aust 2002;177:177–8CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15World Health Organization. Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media. Burden of Illness and Management Options. Geneva: WHO, 2004;31Google Scholar