Audiologic findings in a family with mitochondrial disorder

Mitochondrial disorder is an inborn error of metabolism affecting the cellular respiratory chain. Defective energy production leads to a wide variety of clinical manifestations (ataxia, epilepsy, dementia, myopathy, polyneuropathy, retinal pigment anomalies, and cardiomyopathy with conduction anomalies). Hearing loss is a regular feature and is often the first clinical symptom. Audiologic data from 26 members of a family in three generations is presented. One of these patients was examined for the biochemical error. Respiratory study of muscle biopsy revealed a mild defect in the NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase step of the oxidative phosphorylation (complex I). The content of cytochrome aa3 (complex IV) was also reduced. Adult onset sensorineural hearing loss starting in the high frequency region progresses with a fairly constant speed in this family. A cochlear type of hearing loss is found in the less pronounced cases. Advanced cases present features of retrocochlear affection with decreasing speech recognition, elevated acoustic reflex thresholds, and increased ABR latency with derangement of potentials. Caloric sensitivity was unaffected.