Introduction: A minority of children treated with ventilation tubes develop chronic otorrhoea. To test the hypothesis that this condition might be caused by an underlying primary immunodeficiency, the immunological status was examined in a group of children with longstanding otorrhoea.
Material and methods: Eighteen children who had suffered from otorrhoea for a minimum of six months and who did not respond to relevant therapy were included. Thorough cleansing and suction was performed including removal of ventilation tubes. Swabs were obtained for microbiology and blood was collected for immunological analyses.
Results: One child out of 18 had a normal immune status. Five demonstrated isolated humoral deficiencies, four had isolated cellular deficiencies, whereas combined defects were identified among eight children. The humoral deficiencies consisted of selective or partial immunoglobulin A deficiencies, immunoglobulin G subclass and mannanbinding lectin deficiencies. The cellular deficiencies most often involved the cytotoxic T cells and the natural killer cells.
Conclusion: Primary immunodeficiencies were very prevalent in a highly selected group of children suffering from longstanding post tympanic otorrhoea. The condition should therefore be considered in case of chronic, refractory otorrhoea. The serostatus should be followed carefully to obtain information of the prognosis.
Funding: Not relevant.
Trial registration: Not relevant.