[The efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen in the treatment of sudden sensorineural hearing loss]

Objective:To investigate the therapeutic effect of hyperbaric oxygen on sudden sensorineural hearing loss（SSNHL）. Method:One hundred and seven patients with SSNHL were selected, and were randomly divided into 3 groups according to admission order. Therapeutic schedule in group A （38 cases） consisted of hyperbaric oxygen treatment once a day for 10 consecutive days, then 1 day off treatment, and on treatment for another 10 consecutive days （20 treatments in total）. Twenty-seven patients in group B were treated with hyperbaric oxygen twice per day for a total of 10 days. Forty-two patients in group C didn't receive hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Meanwhile, all patients were given conventional treatment for 14 days in accordance with the recommendations of the otolaryngology, head and neck branch of the Chinese medical association for the diagnosis and treatment of sudden sensorineural hearing loss. Patients in group A underwent pure tone audiometry after the end of treatment, and patients in group B and C were reexamined 20 days after the start of treatment, and the treatment efficacy of the three groups was compared. Result:The overall effective rate of group A was 78.9%, and the improvement of hearing threshold was（27.2±17.5） dB HL. In group B, the overall effective rate was 81.5%, and the improvement of threshold value was（26.9±16.7） dB HL. The overall effective rate of group C was 61.9%, and the improvement of threshold value o was（17.6±18.5） dB HL. The effective rate of group C was significantly higher than that of group A or B, while there was no significant difference in efficacy between group A and group B. Conclusion:The efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen combined with drug therapy for SSNHL is better than that of drug therapy alone. Programs of different hyperbaric oxygen combined with drug therapy can be selected on an individual basis.