Renal disease. Its pathology, treatment, and effects on the ear

Twenty-six hemodialysis and renal transplant patients were studied for the effects of age, duration of kidney failure, amounts and types of treatment, disturbed calcium metabolism, and vascular disease on clinical and pathologic inner ear manifestations. Three subgroups of patients were compared with each other: (1) those having hearing loss of unknown etiology, (2) those having strial deposits, and (3) those having neither. Severity of treatment was not necessarily predictive for severity of inner ear disease. Within each subgroup there was wide variability and almost complete overlap for the factors studied when the three groups were compared. Cochlear strial deposits seem to bear little relationship to disturbed calcium meatbolism or to vascular disease, but their size may be related to the presence of hearing loss.