The International Tinnitus Journal

Gabapentin and Tinnitus Relief

GP has been positive for achieving tinnitus relief over the long term in a particular cohort of tinnitus patients. Specifically, selected tinnitus patients are those who have accurately diagnosed clinical, predominantly central-type severe, disabling subjective idiopathic tinnitus (SIT). GP has not been recommended as a single therapy for tinnitus patients, but as part of a combined therapy attempting tinnitus relief after identification and treatment of factors known to influence the clinical course of the SIT [2]. GP, a drug designed originally as a supplement for seizure control, was considered for those SIT patients in whom objective evidence of abnormal electrical and metabolic brain activity was identified. Initially, nuclear medicine imaging with single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) of the brain provided objective metabolic evidence [3]. Since 2000, quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) has provided electrophysiological evidence [4]. Both tools have been used not only for diagnosis but as a monitor for objectively identifying the efficacy of GP and combined treatment.