Samenvatting van de standaard 'Otitis externa' (eerste herziening) van het Nederlands Huisartsen Genootschap

- The practice guideline ‘Otitis externa’, first developed by the Dutch College of General Practitioners in 1995, has been revised and updated.

- It is no longer recommended to perform a KOH test on material collected from the auditory canal in patients with otitis externa.

- Eardrops that contain both acid and corticosteroids are preferred over eardrops that contain acid only.

- Suitable options include acidic eardrops with hydrocortisone 1 FNA and acidic eardrops with triamcinolone acetonide 0.1 FNA at a dose of 3 drops thrice daily.

- The guideline contains a detailed discussion of the ototoxicity of eardrops in patients with tympanic membrane perforation.

- Management of these patients, however, remains unchanged: the preferred approach is aluminium acetotartrate eardrops 1.2 FNA.

Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 2008;152:1210-4