Medial olivocochlear reflex in ankylosing spondylitis patients.
OBJECTIVE
Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic systemic inflammatory disease. Via autoimmune mediators, AS can damage the auditory system similar to other systems. Otoacoustic emission studies in AS patients showed that the damage that causes hearing loss was in the outer hair cells. The medial olivocochlear (MOC) reflex is used to evaluate the MOC efferent system (MOES), which includes the outer hair cells. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of subclinical damage in the inner ear with the aid of the MOC reflex test in AS patients with no hearing complaints.


METHODS
Thirty-four patients with AS and a control group of 30 healthy volunteers with similar demographic characteristics were evaluated in the study. Otoacoustic emission responses, MOC reflex results, and frequency-specific and total suppression findings were compared between the groups. The relationship between clinical and laboratory findings for the AS patients, and the MOC reflex data were also investigated.


RESULTS
Reduced MOC reflex response (p = 0.04) and suppression (p = 0.019) were detected in AS patients. When the clinical and laboratory findings for the AS patients and the MOC reflex test results were compared, a significant correlation was found only between the MOC reflex and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate.


CONCLUSIONS
The results showed that AS can damage the inner ear, especially the MOES, and can reduce the MOC reflex response without clinical hearing loss.
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Sehitler Caddesi, No: 74, 53020, Islampasa Mahallesi, Rize, Turkey. drmunser@yahoo.com.
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MS
Beyazal
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Rize, Turkey.
A
A
Özgür
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Rize, Turkey.
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S
Terzi
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Rize, Turkey.
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M
Çeliker
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Rize, Turkey.
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E
Dursun
D000328:Adult; D003939:Diagnostic Techniques, Otological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous; D010898:Pitch Perception; D011930:Reaction Time; D012018:Reflex; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013167:Spondylitis, Ankylosing / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*
Autoimmune diseases; Ear, inner; Erythrocyte sedimentation rate; Hearing loss; Speech discrimination