Conservative management of Méniére's disease: Furstenberg regimen revisited

Abstract

This study reviews twenty years' experience at the University of Michigan with 500 consectutive patients suffering from symptoms of Méniére's disease. An especially strong tradition of medical therapy of Méniére's disease has prevailed at the University of Michigan because of the influence of Albert C. Furstenberg, who developed and promoted the Furstenberg regimen of a low-sodium diet and diuretics. It has been our distinct clinical impression over the years that the Furstenberg regimen has been quite satisfactory in relieving the most disturbing symptoms of Méniére's disease in the vast majority of cases and often in patients who have failed other treatment programs. This study quantifies, as much as possible, our extensive experience with this disease and confirms for us the efficacy of this treatment. Relatively few operative procedures have had to be performed for conservative treatment failures in our hands. The success of this conservative management program has been largely dependent upon the strict adherence by the patient to a professionally prescribed, low-sodium diet. Occasional patients with chronic symptoms which are refractory to medical management continue to be a problem, particularly since it is in this group of patients that bilateral involvement tends to ultimately occur.