Acute mastoiditis in children--our experience

The incidence of acute mastoiditis and the number of complications has changed since the 1950s, despite the increasing antibiotic effectiveness. Other series concluded that the incidence of acute mastoiditis is rising in the recent years, which can be justified by the antibiotic resistance of the microorganisms and the absence of paracentesis in the treatment of acute otitis media. Our aim is to approach risk factors, clinical presentation, diagnosis and treatment of acute mastoiditis. We reviewed 62 clinical records of patients in pediatric age, observed in D. Estefania Hospital Lisbon, between January 1993 and December 1997. There was a relative homogenous distribution during the 5 years of the study period. The patient age ranged from 5 months to 14 years. They all were treated with intravenous antibiotics. The mean duration of treatment was 7.4 days. We registered 15 complications: 14 retroauricular subperiosteal abscesses and one subdural empyema. The most common isolated microorganism was Streptococcus pneumoniae. We found no statistic difference (P > 0.1) in the incidence of acute mastoiditis between the 5 years of the study.