The International Tinnitus Journal

Intratympanic corticotherapy and tinnitus control after sudden hearing loss

Author(s): Monique Antunes de Souza Chelminski Barreto, Isabelle Braz de Oliveira Silva, Carlos Augusto Costa Pires de Oliveira and Fayez Bahmad Jr

Introduction: Sudden deafness is characterized by an abrupt onset, often idiopathic and tinnitus is present, and becomes the main complaint in up to 80% of patients. Objective: To review carefully all studies of the past 10 years on sudden deafness and tinnitus and analyze the effectiveness of oral and intratympanic steroids for tinnitus control in eight patients with sudden deafness and severe disabling tinnitus.

Method: An analytical prospective in which 64 patients after sudden deafness with tinnitus were monitored and 08 of these suffering with severe disabling tinnitus underwent hearing evaluation and application of the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory and Visual Analogue Scale before, during and after sudden deafness treated with oral and intratympanic steroids. It was made a systematic review of publications on the topic in the library of PubMed/MedLine, keywords: Sudden deafness and tinnitus.

Results: Eleven scientific studies were analyzed. Eight patients treated with intratympanic and oral corticosteroids were selected, just two patients showed improvement over the hearing but seven of them showed big improvement in their tinnitus, which was demonstrated by an improvement in the values of the degrees of severity of tinnitus.

Conclusion: Patients with sudden deafness and severe disabling tinnitus, and underwent intratympanic and oral corticosteroids showed, in this study, significant reduction and/or remission of tinnitus.

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