Inflammatory middle ear diseases in patients with cystic fibrosis.

111 patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), aged 7 months to 29 years, were examined to detect inflammatory middle ear diseases. 35% had a history of one or more attacks of acute otitis media, an incidence at the same level as in non-CF patients. None had chronic suppurative otitis. Only 4 out of the 88 patients able to cooperate in audiometry had a hearing impairment. In 2, the hearing loss was perceptive, in 3 very mild, and in the fourth case, moderately severe. The middle ear pressure was measured in 108 patients, in 86 of whom it proved normal. In 15 patients the middle ear pressure was lower than--100 mmH2O, indicating tubal occlusion, and in 7 patients the impedance minimum was lacking, indicating an accumulation of mucus. These 7 patients (6%) had secretory otitis media. Nasal polyps were or had been present in 32%. There was no correlation between nasal polyps and tubal occlusion or secretory otitis. The incidence of inflammatory middle ear diseases in CF patients was in the same range as in non-CF patients, a finding at variance with some previous investigations showing middle ear pathology in 25--48%.