Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar 9;11(3):482.
doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11030482.

Acute Labyrinthitis Revealing COVID-19

Marie Perret  1 , Angélique Bernard  2 , Alan Rahmani  2 , Patrick Manckoundia  1 , Alain Putot  1
Affiliations

Acute Labyrinthitis Revealing COVID-19

Marie Perret et al. Diagnostics (Basel). .

Abstract

An 84-year-old man presented to the emergency department for acute vomiting associated with rotational vertigo and a sudden right sensorineural hearing loss. A left peripheral vestibular nystagmus was highlighted. The patient was afebrile, without respiratory signs or symptoms. Blood sampling at admission showed lymphopenia, thrombopenia and neutrophil polynucleosis, without elevation of C reactive protein. Cerebral magnetic resonance imaging eliminated a neurovascular origin. Vestibule, right semicircular canals and cochlear FLAIR hypersignals were highlighted, leading to the diagnosis of right labyrinthitis. A nasopharyngeal swab sampled at admission returned positive for SARS CoV2 by polymerase chain reaction. The etiologic investigation, including syphilitic and viral research, was otherwise negative. An oral corticotherapy (prednisone 70 mg daily) was introduced, followed by a progressive clinical recovery. Although acute otitis media have already been highlighted as an unusual presentation of COVID-19, radiology-proven labyrinthitis had to our knowledge, never been described to date.

Keywords: COVID-19; MRI; SARS CoV2; hearing loss; inner otitis; labyrinthitis; vertigo.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Right labyrinthitis: Hyperintensity (arrows) on axial (a) and frontal (b) FLAIR sections in right vestibule, semicircular canals and cochlear.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Whitman G.T. Dizziness. Am. J. Med. 2018;131:1431–1437. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2018.05.014. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Berrettini S., Seccia V., Fortunato S., Forli F., Bruschini L., Piaggi P., Canapicchi R. Analysis of the 3-Dimensional Fluid-Attenuated Inversion-Recovery (3D-FLAIR) Sequence in Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss. JAMA Otolaryngol. Head Neck Surg. 2013;139:456–464. doi: 10.1001/jamaoto.2013.2659. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Benson J.C., Carlson M.L., Lane J.I. MRI of the Internal Auditory Canal, Labyrinth, and Middle Ear: How We Do It. Radiology. 2020;297:252–265. doi: 10.1148/radiol.2020201767. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Barkwill D., Arora R. StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing; Treasure Island, FL, USA: 2020. Labyrinthitis. - PubMed
    1. Merchant S.N., Durand M.L., Adams J.C. Sudden Deafness: Is It Viral? ORL J. Oto Rhino Laryngol. Its Relat. Spec. 2008;70:52–60. doi: 10.1159/000111048. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources