Antimicrobial ear drop medication therapy.

Author(s): Suzuki K, Baba S

Affiliation(s): Department of Otolaryngology, Nagoya City University Medical School, Japan.

Publication date & source: 1996, Acta Otolaryngol Suppl., 525:68-72.

Publication type:

Ear drop medication, which delivers a concentrated drug directly to the lesion, is a useful therapeutic approach in that it provides enhanced efficacy at the affected site while avoiding the side effects accompanying systemic administration of the drug. In the present study we evaluated the effectiveness of three recently developed antibacterial agents with no proven ototoxicity: cefmenoxime (CMX), fosfomycin (FOM), and ofloxacin (OFLX). The bacterial eradication rate, the bacterial persistence rate, and the fungal infection rate were 91.4%, 2.9% and 5.7% for CMX, 71.2%, 20.9% and 7.0% for FOM, and 88.4%, 4.7% and 7.0% for OFLX, respectively. For lomefloxacin (LFLX) (with one week of treatment), the eradication rate and the persistence rate were 80.2% and 19.8%, respectively. It is advisable to limit the duration of treatment with the same otic drug; using the drug for more than 4 weeks at the most should be avoided.