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Otologic Symptoms and Results of the FTA-ABS Test

Gary D. Becker, MD

Arch Otolaryngol. 1976;102(12):729-731.

Abstract
• The clinician occasionally encounters a patient whose cochleovestibular symptoms are thought to be due to late syphilis mainly on the basis of a reactive FTA-ABS test. I describe 21 such patients, 11 of whom had either a spurious-or a false-positive reaction.

The following suggestions may avoid an inaccurate diagnosis of late syphilis in such patients: (1) repeat all reactive serological tests for syphilis (STS); (2) rule out false-positive reactions; (3) request the degree of fluorescence (1+ to 4+) on all reactive FTA-ABS tests; (4) obtain a Treponema pallidum immobilization (TPI) test on all patients with repeatedly reactive (1+) FTA-ABS tests—a nonreactive TPI test rules out the diagnosis of syphilis; (5) if a TPI test cannot be performed, a repeatedly reactive (1+) FTA-ABS test in the absence of a reactive nontreponemal STS probably represents a false-positive reaction; (6) clinical judgment is the final determinant of whether a patient has or should be treated for late syphilis.

(Arch Otolaryngol 102:729-731, 1976)

Author Affiliations
From the Section of Otolaryngology (Head and Neck Surgery), Wadsworth Hospital Center, and the Department of Surgery, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication July 11, 1975.

Reprint requests to Department of Otolaryngology, Veterans Administration, Wadsworth Hospital Center, Los Angeles, CA 90073 (Dr Becker).

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