Eighth nerve signs in a case of multiple sclerosis.
We evaluated a 25-year-old woman with multiple sclerosis who presented with the acute onset of a profound unilateral high-frequency, sensorineural hearing loss that resolved clinically within 10 days. Click-elicited brain stem-evoked responses were abnormal at the time of presentation and demonstrated only limited recovery over a follow-up period of 11 months. Magnetic resonance imaging disclosed a lesion in the eighth nerve root-entry zone and the cochlear nucleus. Our findings in this case support the hypothesis of eighth nerve root-entry zone involvement in sudden hearing loss in multiple sclerosis and reinforce the notion that click-elicited brain stem-evoked responses are useful primarily to evaluate the high-frequency regions of the auditory system.
Furman
J M
JM
Department of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, PA.
Durrant
J D
JD
Hirsch
W L
WL
D000328:Adult; D001300:Audiometry, Evoked Response; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000503:physiopathology; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006316:Hearing Loss, High-Frequency / Q000503:physiopathology; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000159:Vestibulocochlear Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology*