Hypotension as an isolated factor may not be sufficient to provoke hearing impairment.
OBJECTIVE
We investigated the possible role of hypotension and related autonomic phenomena in the pathogenic mechanism of sudden sensorineural hearing loss.


METHODS
Forty-nine patients belonging to the ASA I-II classes of anaesthesiological risk and submitted to a non-otological surgical procedure were examined. Each operation was performed under general anaesthesia by controlled hypotension technique. Hearing function of the patients was evaluated before and after surgery by means of a pure tone audiometry recorded by the same clinician with the same instrument.


RESULTS
No cases of bilateral hearing worsening were recorded after surgery.


CONCLUSIONS
An induced and controlled steady hypotension under general anaesthesia did not affect the hearing function of any of the patients. It may be supposed, therefore, that an adverse effect on the cochlear oxygenation is more likely to be caused by the sympathetic changes induced by a consistent decrease of blood pressure rather than to hypotension itself.
Pirodda
Antonio
A
Department of Surgical and Anaesthesiological Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy. antonio.pirodda@unibo.it
Ferri
Gian Gaetano
GG
Montana
Teresa
T
Riggio
Raffaella
R
Innocenti
Grazia
G
Di Nino
Gianfranco
G
D000328:Adult; D000768:Anesthesia, General; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D005260:Female; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D007022:Hypotension / Q000150:complications; D007023:Hypotension, Controlled / Q000009:adverse effects*; D007430:Intraoperative Care / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011184:Postoperative Period; D012684:Sensory Thresholds