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Prognostic factors of profound idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss

  • Otology
  • Published:
European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Profound idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss is thought to have a poor prognosis, but few studies have focused on this condition. We aimed to assess the impact of patient factors, audiologic parameters, and salvage intratympanic steroid injection therapy on the prognosis of profound idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss. The demographic, clinical, and audiologic data, degree of hearing recovery, and efficacy of intratympanic steroid injection therapy in 576 patients with profound idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (mean age 56.2 ± 14.9 years) who had been admitted at four tertiary referral centers between 2000 and 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. The mean hearing level at the initial presentation was 108.1 ± 9.5 dB. Many patients experienced vertigo (52.1 %) and tinnitus (77.4 %). At the 2-month follow-up, 172 (29.8 %) patients showed some degree of hearing recovery, but only 21 (3.6 %) patients recovered normal hearing. Further, the 116 patients who had received salvage intratympanic steroid injections showed a better audiologic outcome (improvement, 26.1 ± 24.3 vs. 15.7 ± 22.1 dB; P = 0.000) than those who had not (n = 429). In conclusion, a higher degree of hearing loss at the initial presentation indicates a poorer prognosis. Salvage intratympanic steroid injection therapy may improve the hearing of patients with profound idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss after the failure of systemic steroid therapy.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, No. 707, Sec. 3, Chung Yang Rd., Hualien, 970, Taiwan (ROC)

    Yu-Hsuan Wen & Peir-Rong Chen

  2. Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, No. 701, Sec. 3, Chung Yang Rd., Hualien, 970, Taiwan (ROC)

    Yu-Hsuan Wen, Peir-Rong Chen & Hung-Pin Wu

  3. Department of Otolaryngology, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Taichung Branch, No. 66, Sec. 1, Fongsing Road, Tanzih Township, Taichung, 427, Taiwan (ROC)

    Hung-Pin Wu

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  1. Yu-Hsuan Wen
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  2. Peir-Rong Chen
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Correspondence to Hung-Pin Wu.

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Wen, YH., Chen, PR. & Wu, HP. Prognostic factors of profound idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 271, 1423–1429 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-013-2593-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-013-2593-y

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