Abstract
Tuberculosis is a rare cause of otitis media (called TOM). It often takes time to establish a diagnosis of TOM
because of the clinical variability of the disease. We herein report three cases of TOM recently treated at
Hamanomachi Hospital between April 2005 and March 2013. It took seven days, six months and four months to
establish the diagnosis of TOM from the first visit to our hospital and it took one year, eight months and six month
from the first visit to a medical institution until the diagnosis. TOM can induce serious complications, like
sensorineural hearing loss and facial palsy, so an early diagnosis and early treatment are needed. Therefore, TOM
should be suspected in cases of intractable otitis media, and it benefits patients to start antituberculosis treatment
early, because it may prevent the development of severe complications.
