Medical Dictionary

politzer bag

noun po·litz·er bag \ ˈpō-lit-sər- , ˈpä- \

medical Definition of politzer bag

: a soft rubber bulb used to inflate the middle ear by increasing air pressure in the nasopharynx

Biographical Note for politzer bag

Politzer \ˈpō-lit-sər\, Adam (1835–1920), Austrian otologist. Politzer was the first professor of otology at Vienna and one of the greatest of all otologists. He devoted his career to the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of the organs of hearing. While he was still a medical student, he described the innervation of the intrinsic muscle of the ear and the variations in air pressure on the middle ear. In 1863 he devised the pneumatic device for inflating the middle ear that is now called the politzer bag. Two years later he published an atlas of the tympanic membrane. In 1878–82 he published a textbook on diseases of the ear that was the standard authority for many years. His two-volume history of otolaryngology that was published in 1907–13 was equally significant. His other achievements included improvement of tuning-fork tests; use of the otoscope in the diagnosis of seromucous exudate in the tympanic cavity; the first recognition of otosclerosis as a separate clinical entity; and investigations into the pathological anatomy of cholesteatoma, congenital deafness, and labyrinthitis.