2007 Volume 100 Issue 8 Pages 649-653
We examined the effects of Burow's solution on intractable chronic suppurative ear disease. Cotton balls soaked with the solution were applied to the canal wall and/or the tympanic membrane for more than 10min once or twice a week in each patient. Subjects were 19 ears of 13 patients with a mean age of 60 years old treated at the Otolaryngological unit of Kawasaki Medical School between September 2005 and December 2006. Ten ears had chronic otitis externa, 8 ears had fungal otitis externa, 4 ears had chronic granulated myringitis, 3 ears had chronic otitis media with perforation and 2 ears had postoperative mastoid cavity problems. Six ears (31.6%) were cured, 10 ears (52.6%) were improved, 1 ear (5.3%) was unchanged and 2 ears (10.5%) deteriorated. There was no subjective hearing impairment observed after treatment. The two ears that deteriorated were in one patient with bilateral chronic otitis media due to MRSA and Candida albicans infection with a history of radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Generally Burow's solution is extremely effective for intractable chronic suppurative ear disease, but physicians should remain aware that Burow's solution may rarely cause deterioration of ear disease symptoms in some cases.
