Middle ear effusion and sinusitis.

The present investigation comprises a retrospective and a prospective study on children with middle ear effusion (MEE). It is shown that, in the majority of patients, middle ear effusion was found in combination with an infective disease of other parts of the upper respiratory system, especially in the maxillary sinuses. Lavage of the infected sinuses resulted in resolution of the middle ear effusion in about 85 per cent of the cases, while adenoidectomy, in patients in whom adenoid enlargement was found together with middle ear effusion, had only a minor effect.