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In Reply.—With reference to Dr Gottschalk's letter concerning comments to our statement, "As we do not have better methods of treatment, this therapy seems justified..." we should like to reply that we used the ventilating tube only in those cases where serous otitis had lasted for at least 6 months, and where other methods of treatment had been tried for a mean time of 2½ years. This treatment was to a great extent similar to that described by Dr Gottschalk (paracentesis, ventilation of the Eustachian tube, in 61% of the cases adenoidectomy/adenotonsillectomy).
We cannot exclude that, to a certain degree, the discrepancy between Dr Gottschalk's and our results concerning this treatment may have been influenced by the difference between the observation times: Dr Gottschalk's patients were "... seen one week postoperatively and again one month later if fluid had been found at surgery. If the ear was clear on the