SECONDARY PURULENT OTOGENIC MENINGITIS IN ADULTS: PECULIARITIES OF ANTIMICROBIAL THERAPY

Secondary purulent otogenic meningitis (SPOM) in adult patients is less common than in children, but among all intracranial complications of middle ear pathology it occupies the leading position. In the absolute majority of cases, a patient with SPOM on admission to the emergency room is supervised by a neurologist with a suspicion of acute cerebral circulation disorder, and an otorhinolaryngologist, along with other subspecialists, is initially an invited consultant. All this is associated with the risks of untimely diagnosis of SPOM and inadequate tactics of medical care, including the rationality of prescribing the choice of systemic antimicrobial therapy (SPMT), which increases the likelihood of unfavorable outcomes. As a result of retrospective analysis of medical records of 33 completed cases of SPOM for the period from 2017 to October 2023, the features of the course of SPOM microbial landscape in this pathology and the nature of SPMT were studied. It was revealed that in the structure of secondary meningitis of otogenic and rhinosinusogenic etiology VHOM took the leading positions (81.1%). In 62.5% of cases, patients had comorbid pathology, which negatively affected the course of the underlying disease and worsened the prognosis of the disease. Such manifestations as headache, vomiting, disorders of consciousness were observed in 62.5%, 57.6%, 62.1% of cases, respectively. Clearly expressed signs of inflammatory process on the part of general blood analysis and cerebrospinal fluid were revealed. The structure of etiologic factors in adult SPOM was dominated by coccal microflora (S.pneumoniae, Streptococcus spp., Staphylococcus spp.). In 81.8% of cases of SPOM we started with recommended ceftriaxone, but absence of positive dynamics, severity of the course of the inflammatory process required correction of SPMT and transition to meropenem. Timely diagnosis, clear tactics of medical care, including the choice of effective SPMT using, including de-escalation schemes, led to favorable outcomes in 87.9% of patients.