COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF CIPROFLOXACIN AND AMOXICILLIN-CLAVULANIC ACID IN THE TREATMENT OF CHRONIC OTITIS

This study compared the efficacy and safety of ciprofloxacin and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid in patients with exacerbation of non cholesteatomatous chronic otitis. The main pathogen isolated before treatment was Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This pathogen was never resistant in vitro to ciprofloxacin but it was in all cases, to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid. At the end of treatment, otorrhoea disappeared in respectively 23/40 patients (57.5 %) and 13135 patients (37.1 %) of ciprofloxacin and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid groups (p = 0.04). The eradication rate was also significantly higher in the ciprofloxacin group (24/32, 75.0 %) than in the amoxicillin-clavulanic acid group (7/18, 38.9 %). Clinical safety was similar in both treatment groups. Ciprofloxacin whose clinical and bacteriological efficacy is significantly higher than those of the association amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, appears to be an antibiotic of choice in the treatment of chronic otitis, owing to its activity on most of involved pathogens and particularly P. aeruginosa.