[Horton's disease and corticosteroid-responsive hearing loss].
BACKGROUND
Temporal arteritis (TA) is a inflammatory panarteritis of the elderly, which may diffuse to all large arteries. Five to 10% of the patients present nonclassical signs with respiratory, vascular, cardiologic, neurologic or hepatic manifestations. We reviewed eighteen cases of TA and deafness in the literature and report two new cases.


METHODS
Our two patients developed sudden, bilateral and corticosteroid responsive hearing loss. One patient developed hearing loss before the diagnosis of TA.


CONCLUSIONS
The mechanism of deafness is probably explained by vertebrobasilar or terminal cochleovestibular arteritis. While the diagnosis of TA is usually easy, it may be difficult in other circumstances. Sensorineural hearing loss may be the first symptom of TA. Prompt recognition and treatment may lead to partial or total improvement of hearing loss in 55% of the cases.
Saadoun
D
D
Service de Médecine Interne, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, 75651 Paris Cedex 13.
Cacoub
P
P
Costedoat-Chalumeau
N
N
Sbai
A
A
Piette
J C
JC
D000368:Aged; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D013700:Giant Cell Arteritis / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006312:Hearing Loss, Bilateral / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011241:Prednisone / Q000627:therapeutic use
D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D005938:Glucocorticoids; D011241:Prednisone