Question

Multiple perforations of tympanic membrane is a feature of

• A. Trauma
• B. Tuberculous otitis media
• C. C.S.O.M.
• D. Aspergillosis

Hint:

Think about the ear infection known for painless discharge and hearing loss out of proportion to the perforation.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

This question asks which ear condition typically shows many small perforations across the eardrum instead of just one hole. Let's go through the choices.

1. Trauma: An injury like a slap or a poking object usually tears a single hole at one point on the drum, not several scattered ones.
2. Tuberculous otitis media: TB infection attacks the eardrum at more than one spot at the same time, so several small perforations form together and later merge into one large ragged hole. The ear also produces thin, painless discharge, and hearing loss is often worse than the perforation size would suggest, with pale granulation tissue inside the ear.
3. C.S.O.M.: Ordinary chronic suppurative otitis media usually leaves one central or marginal perforation, not multiple ones.
4. Aspergillosis: This fungal infection mostly fills the ear canal with fungal debris and does not typically punch multiple holes in the drum by itself.

Only tuberculous otitis media is known for causing several perforations at once that later join up into a single defect.

Let's summarize:

• A single perforation points to trauma or ordinary C.S.O.M.
• Multiple perforations, painless discharge, and disproportionate deafness point to tuberculous otitis media.

So multiple perforations of the tympanic membrane are a feature of tuberculous otitis media.