title: Sensorineural hearing loss in patients with large vestibular aqueduct.
abstract: In examining 181 patients (327 ears) with sensorineural hearing loss of unknown etiology and 25 people (50 ears) with normal hearing by high-resolution computed tomography (CT), the image of the large vestibular aqueduct (VA) was defined as being a visible large aperture (> or = 4 mm), and small distance between vestibule and traceable part of the VA nearest to the vestibule (> or = 1 mm). The large VA was found in 13 patients (23 ears, 7.0%); it was relatively frequent following hypoplastic cochlea (33 ears, 10.1%) in all the inner ear anomalies detected. In patients with large VA, high-frequency hearing was affected more than low frequency, and history of sudden hearing loss was observed frequently (61% of ears with large VA), which was found to be triggered by characteristic episodes such as minor head trauma, etc. Those clinical features were observed more in those without cochlear anomaly than in those accompanying cochlear anomaly. Pathogenesis of sensorineural hearing loss and characteristic fluctuation of hearing in those patients are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Otsu Red Cross Hospital, Nagara, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okumura
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Honjo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Takagi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mitamura
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D002648:Child; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014723:Vestibular Aqueduct / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging