[Deafness and sarcoidosis]

Abstract

The cochleovestibular tract is seldom involved by sarcoidosis (about 50 cases have been described since 1948). As a clinical expression of sarcoidosis, deafness is fluctuant in 50% of all cases, bilateral, and most often associated with facial palsy and uveitis, the vestibular reflexes being reduced. The histological studies demonstrate lesions at all levels from the cochlea to be brain stem, but the main mechanism is an infiltration of the arachnoid vessels. The prognosis of sarcoidosis deafness is usually poor in spite of corticosteroid therapy. This paper is illustrated by 3 cases observed in Avicenne Hospital.