Abstract
The purpose of this randomized study was to evaluate the early effect of the treatment of acute acoustic trauma (AAT) with steroids and piracetam in a sample of 52 young soldiers who were exposed to intense gunfire noise (G3 rifle). These patients were divided into three groups: (1) group A (20 patients) in which the treatment began within the first hour after the AAT, (2) group B (17 patients) in which the treatment started more than 1 h later and less than 16 h after the AAT and (3) group C (15 patients) in which the treatment began after 24 h or more. One month after the treatment onset, 36 (69%) patients of all the groups showed hearing improvement (complete-partial recovery) in the pure tone audiometry. The greater number of patients who showed complete recovery after AAT was noted in group A (65%) compared to group B (23.5%) and C (13.3%). Moreover, in group A, in the final audiogram, the averaged hearing threshold was statistically better (P < 0.001) than that of groups B and C. In spite of the lack of control group, our data demonstrated the possible effectiveness of the immediate onset of treatment of AAT.
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Psillas, G., Pavlidis, P., Karvelis, I. et al. Potential efficacy of early treatment of acute acoustic trauma with steroids and piracetam after gunshot noise. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 265, 1465–1469 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-008-0689-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-008-0689-6