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. 2010 Sep;3(3):122-5.
doi: 10.3342/ceo.2010.3.3.122. Epub 2010 Sep 17.

Intratympanic steroids in severe to profound sudden sensorineural hearing loss as salvage treatment

Jong Dae Lee  1 , Moo Kyun Park, Chi-Kyou Lee, Kye Hoon Park, Byung Don Lee
Affiliations

Intratympanic steroids in severe to profound sudden sensorineural hearing loss as salvage treatment

Jong Dae Lee et al. Clin Exp Otorhinolaryngol. 2010 Sep.

Abstract

Objectives: Intratympanic steroids are being increasingly used in the treatment of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) after the failure of systemic therapy. This study evaluated the efficacy of administering intratympanic dexamethasone (ITD) as a salvage treatment for severe to profound SSNHL.

Methods: We reviewed the medical records of patients who presented with severe to profound SSNHL between January 2007 and December 2009. ITD was given about 14 days after the initial systemic treatment. Successful recovery was defined as complete or partial recovery using Sigel's criteria. We compared the results of treatment between the severe SSNHL (S-SSNHL) and profound SSNHL (P-SSNHL) groups.

Results: All the patients in the S-SSNHL group showed significant improvement, as compared to the P-SSNHL group (P=0.017). The recovery rate after the initial systemic treatment was 36% (9/25) in the S-SSNHL group and 18.1% (4/22) in the P-SSNHL group (P=0.207). In comparison, the recovery rate of ITD as a salvage treatment was 37.5% (6/16) in the S-SSNHL group and 5.5% (1/18) in the P-SSNHL group (P=0.03).

Conclusion: Our comparative study dose not support the efficacy of ITD as salvage treatment for patients with P-SSNHL as compared with that for S-SSNHL. We recommend that patients with P-SSNHL be informed about the low efficacy of ITD as a salvage treatment.

Keywords: Intratympanic; Steroid; Sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Comparison of the overall recovery rate between the severe and profound sudden sensorineural hearing loss groups. *P<0.05.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Comparison of the early recovery rate 2 weeks after systemic steroids between the severe and profound sudden sensorineural hearing loss groups. P=0.207.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Comparison of the recovery rate after administering intratympanic dexamethasone between the severe and profound sudden sensorineural hearing loss groups. *P<0.05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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