Sudden deafness from vertebrobasilar artery disorder

Two cases are presented of sudden deafness with vertigo and/or dizziness, a 19-year-old male and a 54-year-old female. Their onset condition was considered to be caused by vascular disorders in the area of the vertebrobasilar artery, but they showed no signs of the central nervous system disorders. Case 1 suffered right sudden deafness just after a super selective embolization for the peripheral area of the right vertebral artery, and case 2, just after the accidental cutting of the left vertebral artery during the procedure of neurovascular decompression surgery. The neurotologic findings in these cases were almost the same and the common characteristics were (1) irreversible total deafness of the affected ear, (2) canal paresis in caloric test, (3) retrolabyrinthine disorder of the vestibular system detected by the galvanic test, and (4) no obvious findings of central nervous system disorders, such as eye movement disorder or ataxy. These findings indicate that the sudden deafness was attributable to localized embolism in the inner ear artery caused by thrombosis in the area of the vertebrobasilar artery.