The Effects of Intratympanic Steroid Injection for the Patients with Refractory Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: High-dose steroid therapy has been known as the treatment of choice for sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL). However, about one third of patients do not generally respond to any treatments, and there seem to be no definitive treatment for the patients with refractory SSNHL. We prospectively studied the effect of intratympanic steroid injection (ITSI) for patients with refractory SSNHL. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Sixty six patients with SSNHL, who were refractory to a course of oral steroid therapy, were included in this study. Thirty three patients (34 ears) were treated with ITSI and the other 33 patients had no further treatments as control. ITSI was performed with dexamethasone in the supine position on 4 separate occasions over the course of 2 weeks. Hearing was assessed immediately before every injection, and at 1 and 4 weeks after therapy. Hearing improvement was defined as more than 10 dB in pure tone average (PTA). RESULTS: Hearing improvement was observed in 13 (39.4%) of 33 patients who underwent ITSI and in 2 (6.1%) of 33 patients in control group. Five of 13 showed hearing improvement over 20 dB in PTA, and 11 of 20 patients showed no improvement in PTA by ITSI, but showed improvement over 10dB in some frequencies. There were no definite prognostic factors between the patients who responded to ITSI and those who didn't. CONCLUSION: ITSI is a simple and effective therapy for patients with refractory SSNHL.