ATTENTION has been drawn within the past decade to the clinical syndrome of apical petrositis. The syndrome was first completely described in its various phases by Baldenweck1 in 1908. Excellent presentations of the clinical syndrome by Eagleton,2 Kopetsky and Almour3 and Ramadier4 revived interest in this condition. Many excellent reviews of the literature have been given, and no attempt will be made to repeat them here.
Three cases of apical petrositis are presented because they illustrate the solution of the problems of medical treatment and surgical management that the otologist may encounter in cases of petrositis with or without complicating meningitis. These cases stress the importance of a careful and complete history, they demonstrate the need for adequate and primary surgical treatment in instances in which symptoms of petrous involvement develop in the presence of an apparently adequately draining ear and they discourage dependence on chemotherapy alone. They show the