title: [Diagnostic management of unilateral sensorineural hearing loss in adults].
abstract: Adult unilateral hearing loss is a frequent complaint observed by the E.N.T. specialist. With a pure tone audiometry, we can recognize a conductive hearing loss from a sensorineural hearing loss. In case of a conductive hearing loss, a temporal bone computed tomography is the first choice procedure. For the sensorineural hearing loss, the standard screening test is the brainstem evoked response auditory (BERA), which can be completed by a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The BERA have a false negatives level of 2 to 15% according to the studies, which means that a checking must be done 6 months later. The improvement of MR examination offers a better detection of very small tumours (2-3 mm). The cost of a MRI is equivalent to the cost of 2 BERA. In conclusion, we propose MRI as the only investigation to be performed in case of an unilateral sensorineural hearing loss.
authors.affiliation: Service d'Oto-Rhino-Laryngologie et de Chirurgie Cervico-Faciale, C.H.U Saint-Pierre, U.L.B.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mahillon
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saussez
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gérard
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chantrain
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Thill
mesh_terms: D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans