Eardrops Better for Kids With Leaking Ear Tubes

Antibiotic-glucocorticoid eardrops may be more effective than oral antibiotics when treating acute otorrhea among children with tympanostomy tubes, the results of a study published in the February 20, 2014, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine suggest. Researchers of the study randomly assigned 230 children aged 1 to 10 years to receive hydrocortisone-bacitracin-colistin eardrops or oral antibiotics. After 2 weeks of therapy, only 5% of children given eardrops had otorrhea, compared with 44% of those treated with oral antibiotics. Adverse events were mild and there were no complications with otitis media.