Effect of retreatment on the end-stage sudden deafness

Microcirculatory disturbance of inner ear is probably one of the important etiological factors of sudden deafness. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of retreatment on the end-stage sudden deafness. For this purpose, the patients who met with the criteria for sudden deafness and showed poor response to conventional therapy over 2 months were assigned randomly to the retreatment group. Pure tone audiometry was conducted before and after retreatment among the 103 patients (112 ears). Sodium bicarbonate and dexamethasone were injected by intravenous drip for 2 days and batroxobin 5BU for 6 days. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and t test to determine the efficacy of retreatment. These data show that the efficacy rate in retreatment group was 46.43% and the difference between before and after retreatment was significant (P < 0.01). It was, therefore, concluded that retreatment of the end-stage sudden deafness could improve the audition of the patients and should be valuable in clinics. In this regard, the combination of sodium bicarbonate and dexamethasone proved a rational therapeutic regimen for the end-stage sudden deafness. However, further large-size multicenter studies will be required for independent validation of these findings.