Sudden hearing loss due to diving and its prevention with heparin

Vascular embolic and thrombotic problems postulated to be the cause of inner ear sudden deafness have been reported with decompression sickness also. Decompression sickness has been found to lead to cochlear potential loss in the guinea pig, and these losses are minimized by the prophylactic administration of heparin. Preliminary results show that inner ear hemorrhage may be associated with diving deafness, but plasma protein leakage into the perilymph of the ear may precede the hemorrhage. Inner ear hemorrhage in diving deafness seems to be restricted to the microcirculation. Until we gain a better understanding of the pathophysiology of diving induced deafness, it would be premature to consider agents such as heparin for the treatment of the problem in man.