Histopathological observations of ultrasound treatment in Ménière's disease: case report

The temporal bones of a patient with unilateral Ménière's disease were studied. Two weeks before death, the patient had an ultrasonic treatment through the lateral semicircular canal. The only histopathological finding attributed to the ultrasound irradiation is the degeneration of the sensorineural epithelium and crista of the lateral and vertical anterior canal ampulla. The other vestibular sense organs are normal, giving rise to several hypotheses. Electron microscopy might have discovered some changes in the utricular and saccular maculae and in the posterior and superior ampulla. The presence of a normal ampulla of the posterior semicircular canal has led us to modify our surgical technique so that we now routinely irradiate both the lateral and vertical posterior canals in labyrinthine destruction of the labyrinth by ultrasound.