Efficacia della crenoterapia nel trattamento dell'otite media secretiva in bambini affetti dalla Sindrome di Down

EFFICACY OF CRENOTHERAPY WITH INHALATIOS AND INSUFFLATIONS BY POLITZER IN THE TREATMENT OF OTITIS MEDIA WITH EFFUSION IN CHILDREN WITH DOWN SYNDROME ABSTRACT Objective: Children with Down Syndrome have three times higher incidence of chronic ear disease and secondary hearing loss than other children with developmental delays. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effectiveness of crenotherapy with salt-bromine-iodine mineral water of Agnano spa in Naples, Italy, in children with DS suffering from suffering from persistent bilateral middle ear effusion (OME). Methods: This study involved 65 subjects suffering from persistent bilateral middle ear effusion, divided in two groups: 24 children diagnosed as having Down syndrome (group A); 21 children, as controls, who showed neither chromosomal abnormalities nor mental retardation (group B). All the children were submitted to crenotherapy with jet-inhalations and insufflations by Politzer using salt-bromine-iodine water. Results: After crenotherapy the cure rate showed statistically equivalent outcomes 69% in group A and 71% in group B. Conclusions: In conclusion for the treatment of persistent bilateral middle ear effusion in children with Down syndrome we propose that conservative management with cycles of crenotherapy with jet-inhalations and insufflations by Politzer using salt-bromine-iodine should be the approach of first choice.