Effects of prostaglandin E2 on the fluctuating hearing loss in Ménière's disease

To elucidate the possible mediating role of prostaglandins as underlying mechanism of the acute audiologic effects of furosemide in patients with Ménière's disease, the hearing threshold shift after a 1 hour infusion of a commercially available prostaglandin E2 derivative (120 ng/kg body weight) was determined in 10 patients. Prostaglandin E2 produced a transient hearing improvement comparable to the effects obtained in the furosemide test with 1.2 mg/kg bw in the same patients. The effectiveness of a prostaglandin infusion on hearing levels may be a further sign of the involvement of this mediator in hearing processes.