Takaaki Shimada

Platelet-Activating Factor and Leukotrienes in Acute Otitis Media, Secretory Otitis Media, and Chronic Otitis Media on the Acute Excerbation

The present study was carried out for the purpose of measuring platelet activating factor (PAF) and leukotrienes (LTs) in middle ear fluid (MEF) or in otorrhea of children with acute otitis media (AOM), with secretory otitis media (SOM), and with chronic otitis media (COM) on the acute exacerbation. PAF, LTC4, and LTD4+LTE4 concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay in purulent MEFs obtained from 15 ears of 15 children with AOM, in mucoid or gluey MEFs from 16 ears of 15 children with SOM, and in purulent otorrhea from 9 ears of 9 children with COM on the acute exacerbation. PAF concentrations were 25.4 +/- 9.0 ng/mg total phospholipid (TPL) in AOM, 4.9 +/- 1.9 ng/mg TPL in SOM, 20.7 +/- 15.7 ng/mg TPL in COM, demonstrating significant differences between AOM and SOM (p < 0.05) and between COM and SOM (p < 0.01). LTC4 concentrations were 92.9 +/- 73.8 pg/mg total protein (TP) in AOM, 52.0 +/- 42.5 pg/mg TP in SOM, and 28.5 +/- 11.2 pg/mg TP in COM. LTD4+LTE4 concentrations were 326.5 +/- 177.0 pg/mg TP in AOM, 288.2 +/- 144.6 pg/mg TP in SOM, and 94.0 +/- 58.1 pg/mg TP in COM, demonstrating significant differences between AOM and COM and between SOM and COM (p < 0.01). The results obtained indicated that PAF was involved in the onset of AOM and COM on the acute exacerbation, and that LTs played an important role in SOM.

Clinical Studies on Roxithromycin Treatment of Chronic Sinusitis.

Roxithromycin (RXM) was administered to 191 patients with chronic paranasal sinusitis. The overall rate of excellent and good clinical response was 58.1% as judged by the attending otolaryngologists and 56.0% as judged by the committee.In bacteriological examinations performed on 39 patients before administration 52 organisms were isolated, and 25 (83.3%) of the 30 cultures examined showed sensitivities to RXM. Among patients infected with sensitive organisms the clinical efficacy rate (CER) was 81.0%.X-ray examinations were performed on 59 patients with an CER of 66.1%. The rates for excellent and good results were 75.9% for maxillary sinusitis and 78.3% for ethmoid sinusitis.Side effects, in the form of mild digestive symptoms, were noted in only 3 patients (1.6%), but no treatment was required even though RXM was administered for a long period of time, up to 178 days.These results indicate that RXM is effective in the treatment of chronic paranasal sinusitis.

Two Cases of Hemangioma in the Nasal Cavity with Preoperative Embolization

Embolization was performed in two cases of angioma in the nasal cavity prior to surgery in order to minimize the amount of bleeding. In case 1, the injected embolizing substance (Ivalon) was insufficient, because the amount of bleeding during surgery was as much as 500 ml. Higher dosage of injected substance, however, sometimes leads to less bleeding and higher risk of complication. Since the optimum amount of injected substance has not been discussed further investigation of the standard injectable level should be carried out. In case 2, the amount of bleeding was very little. Thus, embolization is useful as a method of peroperative blood loss prophylaxis in some cases.