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Related Experiment Videos

Hearing loss after spinal and general anesthesia: A comparative study.

W Schaffartzik1, J Hirsch, F Frickmann

  • 1Departments of Anesthesiology, Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Therapy, Hospital of the Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany. walters@ukb.de

Anesthesia and Analgesia
|November 30, 2000
PubMed
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Hearing loss can occur after anesthesia. This study found low-frequency hearing loss was linked to fluid replacement during spinal anesthesia, while tympanic membrane displacement did not change.

Area of Science:

  • Anesthesiology
  • Otolaryngology
  • Audiology

Background:

  • Hearing loss has been anecdotally reported following spinal anesthesia.
  • The precise mechanisms and extent of auditory changes post-anesthesia require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare hearing changes in patients undergoing spinal anesthesia (SA) versus general anesthesia (GA).
  • To investigate the relationship between anesthesia type, intraoperative fluid management, and auditory function.
  • To assess intralabyrinthine and intracranial pressure changes using tympanic membrane displacement (TMD).

Main Methods:

  • Pure tone audiometry was used to assess hearing thresholds in low (LdB: 125-1500 Hz) and high (HdB: 2000-8000 Hz) frequencies.
  • Tympanic membrane displacement analysis was employed to monitor pressure changes noninvasively.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Hearing and TMD data were collected preoperatively and on postoperative days 1 and 2 in 18 patients receiving SA and 19 patients receiving GA.

    • Main Results:

    • Both spinal and general anesthesia were associated with hearing impairment.
    • Significant differences in low-frequency hearing threshold changes (DeltaLdB(10), DeltaLdB(20)) were observed between the SA and GA groups.
    • A significant correlation was found between the volume of intraoperative intravascular fluid replacement and low-frequency hearing loss in the SA group.
    • No significant changes in TMD were detected pre- and postoperatively, indicating no significant pressure alterations.

    Conclusions:

    • Hearing impairment, particularly in the low-frequency range, can occur after both spinal and general anesthesia.
    • Intraoperative fluid management appears to be a contributing factor to low-frequency hearing loss following spinal anesthesia.
    • Tympanic membrane displacement is not a reliable indicator of auditory changes or pressure fluctuations in this context.