Is mastoiditis and its life-threatening complications a disease of the past? Many are under this impression. It is not uncommon to be asked, "Do you still do mastoids?" "I thought that penicillin had changed all that." It is our obligation as otolaryngologists to dispel this cloud of misinformation. I wonder how many of the readers of this paper have seen mastoiditis temporarily camouflaged by the antibiotics suddenly erupt into brain abscess or meningitis. I would venture to say that most of us have seen at least one case of this sort recently, and I predict that we will see increasing numbers, with the resistant organisms multiplying daily and with the rapid increment of allergic reactions to the wonder drugs. It has been estimated that 6% of all patients are allergic to penicillin,1 and the number is growing rapidly.
What are the complications of mastoiditis? For the most part they