Staging Meniere's disease and reporting results in Meniere's disease: symposium panel discussion

At its recent spring meeting, the American Neurotologic Society devoted a portion of its program to a symposium on staging Meniere's disease and reporting results. One of the problems discussed, was which preoperative audiogram should be used for reporting results of any treatment. I think that it is very important that we, as otologists, try to look at Meniere's disease or any inner ear dysfunction in a more scientific way. Some of you may feel, on initial evaluation of this material, that it is too cumbersome to be practical in your daily clinical work. However, we feel we have put forth a reasonable staging system and method of reporting results that can be quite helpful once the simple routine of using them has become established. The vertigogram, for example, which is designed to be very simple and not require any sophisticated equipment, should be as easy to read as an audiogram. If we try to approach the vagaries of Meniere's disease or any inner ear dysfunction in a more scientific fashion, I am sure that in several years we will be in a much better position collectively to evaluate our results and to help our patients. This type of comprehensive staging system for all of the components in Meniere's disease or any inner ear dysfunction will enable us to objectify diagnoses and treatment results so that they can be easily compared. We have put forth some of the ideas and methods that we think will help us arrive at a consensus for reporting results. We encourage you to try some of the suggestions presented in this article and welcome your comments and ideas for improving this staging system and method for reporting results.