What Is Mastoiditis?
The mastoid is the base of the temporal bone and it’s a bony prominence behind the ear. It is filled with mastoid air cells and it communicates with the middle ear. Sometimes, an infection in the middle ear can spread to the mastoid and cause inflammation, called mastoiditis.
Mastoiditis is the most common complication of untreated acute otitis media.
Mastoiditis symptoms can include:
- Fever
- Acute middle ear infection: pain, redness, plugged-ear sensation, difficulty hearing, discharge in the auditory canal
- Ear bulging out from the head
- Swelling, a mass or redness behind the ear (most frequent manifestation)
If you have these symptoms, it is important to consult an ear, nose and throat specialist (ENT).
Mastoiditis is treated with antibiotics. If this does not clear up the problem, a tympanostomy ventilation tube can be inserted in the eardrum to drain the infected fluid from the middle ear.
If the problem persists, a mastoidectomy may be performed (resection of the mastoid bone under general anaesthesia).
BY VIRGINIE HÉBERT, Audiologist, Polyclinique de l’Oreille