The condition of the pharyngeal and nasal mucous membrane should be thoroughly attended to, as from this source a large number of cases of acute middle-ear catarrh have their origin. Nitrate-of-silver solutions are often of great service as a local application to the naso-pharynx. Tannic acid makes a good astringent gargle, and is more particularly adapted to those cases where a pure astringent effect is needed. Chlorate of potash is an excellent gargle, and often proves of great service. It may not be out of place to state that the use of alcohol and tobacco tends to keep up an irritated condition of the naso-pharyngeal mucous membrane, and they should be dispensed with. As part of the treatment inflations of the middle ear are used to aid in the removal of abnormal secretions from the tympanic cavity and to restore the sound-conducting apparatus to its normal condition. This can be thoroughly carried out by the Politzer proceeding. This consists in forcing air (by compressing a rubber hand-bag, Politzer's air-bag, so called) through the lower nasal passage up the Eustachian tube, and so into the middle ear. The patient holds a small quantity of water in the mouth. The nasal end of the tubing connected with the air-bag is placed in one of the lower nasal passages, and the nose tightly closed over it. The patient is then told to swallow, and at the same moment the air-bag is forcibly compressed, and the air is thus compelled to travel along the nasal passage and up the Eustachian tube into the middle ear. The act of swallowing causes the soft palate to be forcibly pressed up against the posterior pharyngeal wall, and at the same time causes the Eustachian tube orifice to open widely. A column of air thus used will expel large accumulations of mucus from the Eustachian tube, and to some extent from the middle-ear cavity, and at the same time the thorough distension of this cavity throws into motion the tympanic membrane and chain of small bones—a most desirable proceeding. In acute conditions the inflation should be made only after all pain has ceased, and then at first very gently; but in a short time a thorough inflation two or three times repeated, say every two or three days, is most beneficial. The inflation of the middle ear by the use of the Eustachian catheter is a more irritating procedure, and does not accomplish the purpose any more completely than the Politzer method. Therefore the latter is to be preferred in adults, while in children it is the only available method that can be used.
Chronic Catarrh of the Middle Ear.
Various classifications of this disease have been made by different authors: I prefer the division that Buck has used in his textbook. The following summary will give an idea of it:
Chronic catarrh is a name that has been given to a class of cases where deafness and tinnitus are prominent symptoms, and where no suppurative action in the middle ear has existed at any previous time, and where the internal ear is supposed to be in a healthy condition. In some of these cases there will be found a marked hypertrophy of the mucous membrane, and sometimes of the submucous connective tissue, accompanied with excess of secretion, with the same condition existing in the naso-pharyngeal membrane. The tympanic membrane often becomes sunken, and therefore strongly concave outwardly. The short process of the malleus is very prominent, and the handle of the malleus, by being drawn forcibly backward, becomes apparently shortened (foreshortening of the malleus handle, so called).
The membrane loses its vibratory power to some extent, and the cone of light is either very small or is entirely absent. The color of the membrane changes to a more or less opaque white, with often a line of vascularity along the manubrium, or it may assume the color of ground glass; white calcareous deposits are not seldom met with; marked evidences of catarrhal inflammation exist in the naso-pharynx, such as increase of mucoid secretion, with enlargements of the tonsils, and often granular pharyngitis may be found. The mucous membrane of the Eustachian tube is often involved in the process: marked swelling of its mucoid tissue, with the tube filled with secretions, prevents free entrance of air into the middle-ear cavity. In the nasal mucous membrane, beyond the ordinary catarrhal conditions, polypoid formations are common; also thickening of the mucoid and submucoid tissues prevents the free passage of air.
In another class of cases coming under the head of chronic catarrh of the middle ear a very different set of symptoms from the class first described are noticeable. In these cases perhaps catarrhal symptoms have at one time existed, but have completely passed away, and the mucous membrane not only of the tympanic cavity, but also of the pharynx and Eustachian tube, has undergone a fibroid degeneration, causing destruction of the glandular elements and ending in an atrophied mucous membrane (the so-called proliferous degeneration of some authors). The tympanic membrane in these cases is abnormally thin and very transparent, sometimes much sunken, no doubt due to connective-tissue adhesions in the middle-ear cavity. The external auditory canal is devoid of cerumen and hair; also the same change in the mucous membrane of the naso-pharynx and Eustachian tube gives a smooth, transparent appearance to their surface. In this class of cases in post-mortem examinations there have been found the stapes firmly ankylosed to the margin of the fenestra ovalis; the chain of small bones firmly ankylosed; fibroid adhesions in the mastoid cells; and adhesions between the tympanic membrane and the labyrinthine wall.
CAUSES.—A percentage of cases result from a previous acute middle-ear catarrh. Others apparently originate as a chronic condition and slowly advance. Beyond all doubt, a large percentage are inherited, as the same disease can be traced back through several generations, where signs of the disease were noted in early youth, with slow advance as years go on. It is also a matter of interest to note that these cases are apt to show sensible advance in women at the birth of a child.
PROGNOSIS, as a rule, bad, both as to the possibility of preventing increase of deafness and of doing away with tinnitus—a most annoying factor.