Does pneumatic otoscopy improve the diagnostic accuracy of otitis media with effusion in clinical practice? A randomized single-blind control trial

The study objective was to determine whether pneumatic otoscopy would improve the diagnostic accuracy of otitis media with effusion (OME) in clinical practice over otoscopy only. A randomized single-blind control trial was undertaken in 30 pediatric residents. Residents were randomized into pneumatic otoscopy (intervention) or otoscopy-only (control) groups. Both study groups received one hour of theory on OME; the intervention group also received a 30-minute teaching session that included both video-otoendoscopic examination (VOE) pneumatic assessments and one practice session. Each resident examined 10 ears and made a diagnosis of either normal or OME ears. Tympanograms were considered as the gold standard. The percent correct diagnoses in the intervention and control groups were 60% and 59%, respectively (p = 0.85).;In conclusion, pneumatic otoscopy did not significantly improve the diagnosis of otitis media with effusion in clinical settings. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings.