Topical and oral treatment of chronic otitis media with ciprofloxacin. A preliminary study.

The clinical and bacteriological efficacy of ciprofloxacin was studied in three groups composed of 20 patients each, all of whom were affected by chronic otitis media in the acute stage. Ciprofloxacin was randomly administered according to the following schedules for 5 to 10 days: 250 mg orally twice a day (group A); 3 drops (250 micrograms/mL in saline solution) locally twice a day (group B); and both of the previous treatments twice a day (group C). A high percentage of favorable clinical response (100% and 95%) and bacteriological eradication (95% and 85%) was observed in groups B and C. A low percentage of patients (65% and 40%) were clinically and bacteriologically cured by the oral therapy (group A). No worsening of the audiometric and vestibular function was observed after local therapy. The results of this preliminary study suggest that the use of topical ciprofloxacin is effective in curing chronic otitis media, even when it is caused by Pseudomonas (47% of the total bacterial detections).