Politzer's text-book of the diseases of the ear and adjacent organs : for students and practitioners / translated by Oscar Dodd ; edited by Sir William Dalby.

  • Politzer, Adam, 1835-1920.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Politzer's text-book of the diseases of the ear and adjacent organs : for students and practitioners / translated by Oscar Dodd ; edited by Sir William Dalby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    this, for several days returning to the treatment with boric acid. Astringents (zinci sulph., sacch. saturin 0*2 in [20, 10 to 15 drops twice a day, instilled into the ear, and left for a quarter of an hour) are only used when boric acid is without result. A method of treatment which is excellent in its results in the obstinate acute suppurations of the middle ear, consists of injections of sterilized warm water through the catheter into the middle ear (p. 110). This method, recommended by Saissy and Millingen, is of great value in those cases in which the pain continues uninter- ruptedly after the perforation of the membrana tympani, and the suppuration cannot be arrested by the local treatment described; also in those obstinate forms, in which the perforation is situated on a nipple-like elevation of the membrana tympani; and lastly with inflammatory symptoms on the mastoid process. It often has a surprisingly rapid effect, as immediately after the injection of the fluid the pain generally ceases, and the suppuration decreases after a few days. In the scar latino-diphtheritic and middle-ear inflamma- tion occurring with measles, one may use in place of the sterilized water a 2 to 3 per cent, solution of boric acid or resorcin. The painful inflammations of the mastoid process, which appear in the course of acute purulent inflammation of the middle-ear, deserve special attention, and the treatment will be considered in the section on ' The Diseases of the Mastoid Process.' If the perforation closes after the discharge has ceased, all further local treatment through the external meatus must be avoided, and Politzerization alone must be continued subsequently in treating the still existing deafness. At the beginning this is applied daily, later only once every other day, and if the deafness steadily decreases, only once or twice weekly, until the hearing-test indicates a complete return to the normal state. Many functional disturbances, which cannot be removed by treatment, I have sometimes seen disappear after residence for several weeks in a mountainous district. With regard to prophylaxis, it must still be remarked, that after acute suppurations of the middle ear have ceased, on account of the tendency to relapse, the meatus must be protected by cotton-wool in cold and windy weather, and vapour-baths or head-douches, as well as diving while in the bath, must be forbidden. With regard to the naso-pharynx affections accompanying middle-ear suppuration, they will be treated in a special section. The peculiarities of the middle-ear suppuration accompanying the infectious disease will also be specially treated. 23