title: Steroid treatment of hearing loss in enlarged vestibular aqueduct anomaly.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  1. Determine whether corticosteroid therapy improves hearing thresholds of patients with enlarged vestibular aqueduct (EVA) anomaly. 2. Determine sample size for a future prospective study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective chart review hearing loss in EVA patients comparing patients treated with corticosteroids and untreated patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty percent (n=5) of patients treated with steroids for hearing loss demonstrated audiometric improvement, compared to 14.3% of patients (n=7) not treated. The pure tone average improved by 17.7dB in the steroid treated group. A prospective, placebo-controlled trial would need between 19 and 45 patients in each group, treatment versus no-treatment, to achieve statistical significance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with EVA who develop hearing loss have a high rate of hearing improvement when treated with corticosteroid therapy. The hearing improvement appears to be better than spontaneous recovery.
authors.affiliation: Division of Otolaryngology, Department of Surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, United States. fred.grimmer@imail.org
authors.forename: Johannes Fredrik
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Grimmer
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hedlund
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D005260:Female; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011241:Prednisone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014723:Vestibular Aqueduct / Q000002:abnormalities*
chemical_list: D005938:Glucocorticoids; D011241:Prednisone