title: Topical ocular drug delivery to inner ear disease and sinusitis.
abstract: Oral steroids are the main therapy for sensorineural deafness. We present the rare case of a patient whose hearing loss associated with inflammation of the inner ear and chronic sinusitis were improved with topical steroid therapy. A 68-year-old male presented with scleritis in the left eye, inflammation of the inner ear and chronic sinusitis. He received oral prednisolone 10 mg/d. However, the oral prednisolone was discontinued due to severe side effects. Topical administration of 0.1% betamethasone sodium phosphate improved the scleritis and incidentally also relieved his symptoms of recurrent otitis and sinusitis after several days. Audiometry revealed recovered acoustic sensation in the right ear, from 50 dB to 20 dB, and in the left ear from 70 to 35 dB with 1,000 Hz. Topical ocular drug delivery of steroids may be effective for inner ear disease and sinusitis in patients with systemic side effects to oral steroids.
authors.affiliation: The Schepens Eye Research Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, 20 Staniford Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA. mimurat-tky@umin.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mimura
authors.forename: Hideharu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Funatsu
authors.forename: Tomohiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Usui
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamagami
authors.forename: Hidetaka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Noma
authors.forename: Shiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Amano
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001623:Betamethasone / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011239:Prednisolone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015423:Scleritis / Q000188:drug therapy; D014792:Visual Acuity
chemical_list: D005938:Glucocorticoids; C028994:betamethasone sodium phosphate; D001623:Betamethasone; D011239:Prednisolone