Case Report

Vol. 12 No. 2 (2016): The Journal of International Advanced Otology

Chronic Tuberculous Otomastoiditis: A Case Report

Main Article Content

Luca Bruschini
Annalisa Ciabotti
Stefano Berrettini

Abstract

Abstract


Worldwide, tuberculosis is a widespread disease, with 8.7 million new cases occurring annually. Its etiologic agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, essentially causes pneumonia. However, this organism affects the middle ear in rare cases, accounting for 0.04–0.09% of all chronic middle ear otitis cases in Western countries. In this report, we describe the case of a young woman affected by tuberculosis of the middle ear. In our experience, empiric therapy was not beneficial. Adequate treatment was possible only after obtaining a specific diagnosis through a difficult process requiring surgical sampling for culture examination. We consider surgical sampling to be mandatory in all cases of chronic otitis media that do not respond to prolonged systemic and local therapies.


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