To Ear Plug or Not to Ear Plug

Seems like a fairly simple question... but oh what controversy it stirs up when regarding a patient with ear tubes who wants to go swimming. There are two schools of thought... 1) Based on evidence and research, no need to wear ear plugs... ever. The argument... Well, here's the research: A meta-analysis of swimming and water precautions. Water precautions and tympanostomy tubes: a randomized, controlled trial. A meta-analysis of swimming and water precautions. The effect of w…

7/20/2012 2

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Cancer Drug to Treat Glue Ear in Kids??!

I read with astound that a class of cancer drugs known as VEGF Inhibitors (ie, Avastin and Erbitux) used to treat colorectal, lung, breast, and kidney cancers can also be used to potentially treat a type of chronic ear infection known as glue ear... at least in theory and in mice. Glue ear is when an individual suffers from repetitive ear infections or upper respiratory infections to the point where the fluid in the ear turns into a maple syrup consistency. It's thick, sticky and tough …

10/22/2011 1

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Novel Treatment for Glue Ear?

Glue ear is the layman's term for thick mucoid effusion of the middle ear, usually due to chronic ear infections . The fluid itself is like maple syrup and usually treated with  ear tube placement followed by suctioning as much of the fluid out as possible. However, given there is always some residual present, antibiotic ear drops with steroids is often prescribed. Unfortunately, these patients are at higher risk of requiring repeated sets of tubes after the body spits them out. W…

8/04/2011 0

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Storybooks to Help Prepare a Child for Surgery

Children love stories and as it so happens, there are a few books to help prepare a child for surgery so that hopefully everything won't be as strange or scary. All these books can be purchased from Amazon.com. The first group is for tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy . The last group is for ear tubes placement .

5/09/2010 0

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