[Perilymph fistulas--symptoms and indications for tympanoscopy]

In the last two years thirteen cases of perilymph fistula were treated by tympanoscopy and covering with connective tissue. Recovery of hearing was not observed in 4 totally deaf ears, but improvement was recorded in each of 9 cases with impaired hearing. Vertigo disappeared in 10 of 11 cases without any correlation with the degree of hearing loss. We perform tympanoscopy in suspected perilymph fistula, because prognosis is uncertain, spontaneous recovery with remaining defects may induce ménièriform syndrome, and pathway of infection should be closed. The diagnosis of a perilymph fistula must be solidified in cases of sudden deafness with vertigo, sudden hearing loss changing to the worse during medical treatment, sudden hearing loss without recovery during medical treatment, sudden hearing loss and subsequent onset of vertigo.