[A case of subarachnoid hemorrhage complaining of deafness]

A 64-year-old female came to our department because of a sudden onset of bilateral deafness 2 days before. She had sudden onset of mild headache, nausea and vomiting 9 days before, but was diagnosed as food poisoning by her home doctor. Her symptoms disappeared on the following day. Neurological examination revealed bilateral deafness, right facial palsy of central type and very slight neck stiffness. CT showed inconspicuous subarachnoid hemorrhage, but lumber puncture revealed definite subarachnoid hemorrhage. Another important finding of CT was old left temporal lobe infarction. Cerebral angiography detected right middle cerebral artery aneurysm at the trifurcation and moderate cerebral vasospasm of the right M2 portion. Neck clipping was successfully performed, but small size of right temporal lobe infarction was found on postoperative CT, which was due to cerebral vasospasm. Postoperative MRI showed bilateral temporal lobe infarction, especially including bilateral auditory cortex. This finding suggests that her deafness was cortical in origin.