Chronic purulent otitis media

This lecture reviews up-to-date information on the classification, etiology, pathogenesis, clinical features, diagnostics, surgical and conservative treatment of chronic purulent otitis media. It is maintained that surgical intervention including sanative and reconstructive procedures as well as hearing improvement measures is currently the preferred approach to the treatment of the disease in question. Special attention is given to different variants of sanative surgery in combination with tympanoplasty. The author emphasizes that the conservative therapy of chronic otitis media has the objective to eliminate exacerbation of the chronic process and does not substitute the surgical treatment.