Ear-canal lavage for curing noninvasive otomycosis: A prospective
randomized controlled trial
Abstract
Objective Fungal infection of the external auditory canal, otomycosis,
is generally a resistant mycotic infection. We designed a prospective,
randomized, controlled cohort study to analyse the treatment effect of
ear canal lavage on otomycosis. Methods The clinical patients were
divided into two groups: an irrigation group and an irrigation + local
drug treatment control group. Results From January 2022 to December
2023, a total of 102 patients treated for otomycosis were enrolled, and
98 of the patients were followed up for three months. Twenty-two of the
98 patients (22.45%) had no or minor symptoms. Other common symptoms
such as pruritus, pain, hearing impairment, etc., presented solely or in
combination (Table 1). Our fungal culture results revealed that, in 83
patients (84.69%) the otomycotic pathogen was Aspergillus. In the
lavage group, 48 (48/52, 92.30%) patients were cured with initial
treatment after three months of follow-up, two (2/52, 3.85%) patients
were cured after one month but were lost to follow-up after three
months, and two (2/52, 3.85%) patients failed after initial treatment,
received topical miconazole ointment treatment and were eventually
cured. In the irrigation + local drug control group, 48 (48/50, 96.00%)
subjects responded to initial treatment without recurrent disease after
three months; 2 (2/50, 4.00%) subjects were lost to follow-up.
According to Fisher’s exact test, there was no significant difference
between the two groups (Table 3, P = 0.258). Conclusion Both ear canal
rinses and local antifungal creams are effective, and sequential
treatment via both methods is reasonable.