Background: Children's hearing impairment is primarily caused by otitis media with effusion (OME). OME may be
linked to developmental delays, thus early and appropriate therapy of OME avoids hearing and speech impairment in
children. Treatment is still a contentious topic, though.
Objectives: We aimed to assess the efficacy of Intratympanic (IT) steroids for the management of OME resistant to
traditional medical Therapy.
Patients and methods: The study was conducted on 40 patients who had complaints of hearing loss and bilateral
OME that resisted medical treatment lasting at least three months. Under general anesthesia, we performed
myringotomy and ventilation tube (VT) was inserted bilaterally on each patient Then we injected steroid (.5 ml
methylprednisolone 40 mg/mL) into the right middle ear. During the operation and in follow-up visits, once a week
for three weeks in a row.
Results: Resolved OME was 32 (80%) ears with ventilation tube (VT) alone and 38 (95%) ears with ventilation tube
(VT) and steroid injection. This difference was significant (p = 0.043). As regard postoperative complication,
tympanosclerosis was noted in 6 (15%) non-injected ears and one injected ear (2.5%) and the difference was
statistically significant (p