Management of tinnitus aurium with lidocaine and carbamazepine

At present there are two methods of management of tinnitus: one old, by masking with a noise generator, and one new, by biofeedback. Neither of these methods is convenient and neither gets at the heart of the problem. A third method, using intravenous lidocaine as a test and oral carbamazepine therapy, was developed in the Pain Clinic of the Auckland General Hospital in New Zealand. This paper will report our brief experience with these drugs in the management of tinnitus and other similar disorders. Twenty-seven patients with intractable tinnitus had a significant reduction from a test dose of intravenous lidocaine and were treated with oral carbamazepine. Of this group 1 patient (4%) had complete relief, 21 patients (78%) had partial relief, and 5 patients (18%) had no relief. Complications were few and not serious, and either disappeared spontaneously or when the carbamazepine was stopped. One patient with palatal myoclonus, refractory to all other forms of treatment, had complete relief on a small dose of carbamazepine. It may be that palatal myoclonus, hemifacial spasm, and other such clonic convulsive disorders will be amenable to the same treatment.