Early transtympanic steroid injection in patients with 'poor prognosis' idiopathic sensorineural sudden hearing loss.
OBJECTIVE
The present trial is aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of early transtympanic steroid injection in patients with 'poor prognosis' idiopathic sensorineural sudden hearing loss (ISSHL).


METHODS
Seventy-six patients, diagnosed as having ISSHL with 'poor prognosis', were randomized into a transtympanic group and a control group. Thirty-nine patients received conventional steroid treatment and 37 patients received 4 courses of additional transtympanic injections of methylprednisolone 7 days after conventional steroid treatment.


RESULTS
In the transtympanic group 45.9% of the patients had at least 15 dB improvement in pure tone average compared with 20.5% of the patients in the control group at the 8-week follow-up audiogram. In the transtympanic group 43.2% of the patients had an improvement of ≥ 15% in speech discrimination, compared with 17.9% of the patients in the control group 8 weeks after the treatment. The differences between the 2 groups were statistically significantly.


CONCLUSIONS
The outcome was better for the patients with 'poor prognosis' ISSHL if the transtympanic steroid therapy could be applied early.
Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Changhai Hospital, Shanghai, China. ydzhou111@163.com
Yide
Y
Zhou
Hongliang
H
Zheng
Qing
Q
Zhang
Peter A
PA
Campione
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007267:Injections; D008297:Male; D008775:Methylprednisolone / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000187:drug effects*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014432:Tympanic Membrane
D005938:Glucocorticoids; D008775:Methylprednisolone