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(c) Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic.—Dr. Francis Clarke reports
as follows:—
The number of new cases seen at the Aural Clinic during 1953
was approximately the same as that of the previous year. The
majority of these new cases have been discovered by the School
medical officers during school medical inspections and at the school
clinics. A number have been referred by local practitioners. Parents
also have requested examinations of their children complaining of
ear, nose or throat signs or symptoms.
The nature of the abnormal conditions found on examination
at the clinic was much the same as that of previous years. The number
of cases of chronic otorrhoea (running ears) for a school
population the size of Walthamstow remains as in previous years,
very small. There were about a dozen cases in all, and of these,
three were old post operative mastoids, which are usually the most
. difficult to cure. For these chronic cases zinc ionisation, correctly
applied, has been found by far the most efficient and quick method
of treatment. It saves time at the clinic and the patient's time from
school.
The noticeable decline in the number of cases of chronic ear
discharge with its marked effect on the hearing is no doubt due to
a large extent to the early and efficient clinical treatment of early
acute ear discharge and any contributing or predisposing factors
found to be present. The use of such new drugs as penicillin and
the sulpha drugs, administered in the earliest stages of acute otitis,
have contributed considerably in the prevention and early cure of
discharging ears. The most important point to remember in the
clinical treatment of acute otorrhoea is to get the ear 'dry' as
quickly as possible in order to prevent any impairment of the hearing,
and the most efficient way to secure this desired result is to
employ the correct technique. This can be done efficiently only by
daily attendance at the clinic, where complicating defects, as well
as the ear can be attended to. Home treatment is unsatisfactory
and usually a failure. In the absence of effective treatment the
condition becomes chronic, the one thing that it is essential to
avoid.