Sudden sensorineural hearing loss ; Dexamethasone·Injection ; Treatment outcomes.
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Steroids are the only proven drug in the treatment for the idiopathic
sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL). The intratympanic steroid injection (ITS)
is thought to induce higher perilymph levels in the recent studies. However, the effect of ITS
for SSNHL has not been confirmed. We studied the effectiveness of the intratympanic steroid
injection for SSNHL and compared the effectiveness to other treatments as a primary treatment
tool. Subjects and Methods: We reviewed the records of 226 patients seen in the past
seven years from December 2002 to March 2008 who had an initial diagnosis of idiopathic
SSNHL. The patients were divided into 4 groups; 78 ears treated with topical steroids (S) and
heparinization (H)(Group 2), 83 ears treated with S, H and intratympanic steroid injection (ITS)
(Group 3), 12 ears treated with S, H, ITS and stellate ganglion block (SGB)(Group 4), and 54
ears treated with S, H and SGB (Group 5). Results: There were no statistical differences among
the treatment results of all groups. However, the theory that ITS makes the recovery of hearing
earlier in the SSNHL has statistical significance. Conclusions: The results of this study
suggest that ITS did not result in significant improvement of hearing, but is effective to shorten
the time to reach the final hearing in the treatment of SSNHL compared to other treatments.