Sudden sensorineural hearing loss: our experience in diagnosis, treatment, and outcome

To describe our experience concerning sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) in a large single-institution series of SSNHL patients and to discuss the results.

This was a retrospective study, and the charts of 156 consecutive inpatients (65 males, mean age 44 years, range 10-74 years; 91 females, mean age 46 years, range 15-75 years) with the diagnosis of SSNHL from 1987 to 2000 were reviewed. One hundred forty-three of 156 patients received multidrug therapy (plasma expanders, antiaggregants, steroids), whereas only 13 SSNHL patients received hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Old age, vascular and metabolic risk factors, and cigarette smoking do not a have a high prevalence in the SSNHL population. An etiologic factor was detected in 23 of 156 (15%) cases (16 cases of acute infection, 4 cases of neurovascular conflicts, 2 cases of cerebellar angiomas, 1 case of cochleovestibular schwannoma). The outcome was not related to the laterality, age, or hearing loss type. On the contrary, a statistically significant association between poor recovery and male sex, both tinnitus and vertigo, and the initial severity of the hearing loss was observed.

Mostly, SSNHL results in idiopathic disease. At present, diagnostic and therapeutic efforts appear to be inadequate to improve the prognosis of SSNHL. Further studies are needed to obtain better knowledge about the etiopathogenesis of SSNHL so that new therapeutic strategies can be considered in the treatment of this challenging ear disease.