The International Tinnitus Journal

Case Reports on Effect of Intratympanic Steroid Injection Therapy on Late−Onset Hearing Loss in Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection

Background: One of the conditions or symptoms caused by congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection is late-onset hearing loss. This report examines the cases of two children exhibiting late-onset hearing loss after cCMV infection who showed improvement in hearing after undergoing intratympanic steroid injection therapy (IST).

Cases: Case1 is girl aged 8 years and 10 months and case2 is girl aged 5 years and 1 month. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) was not detected in the blood or urine of either child at the time of hearing loss despite them having cCMV infection.

Findings: The hearing of both children improved as a result of IST on an outpatient basis. Case1 was given first session of IST in left ear immediately on the day of her visit and second session of IST in left ear 2 days later. Tendency for improvement in threshold on left side was observed (the differences were about 20 to 45 dB). Case2 was given a total of 2 sessions of IST on left ear, 3 days and 5 days after visiting the hospital. The test result of distortion product otoacoustic emissions changed from refer to pass. Tendency for improvement in threshold on left side was observed (the differences were about 5 to 25 dB).

Conclusions: Bearing in mind that late-onset hearing loss in patients with cCMV may be caused by other factors besides CMV, consideration of IST as a possible treatment option is proposed.