ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES@#Sudden sensoryneural hearing loss (SSNHL) is an otological emergency disease of a non-specific cause. If there is no improvement or if the degree of hearing loss is severe, patients are often referred to other medical institution. Many papers have reported regarding the treatment results of SSNHL, however, most of them failed to mention the fact that patients were referred from other clinics after steroid treatment. This paper would like to compare the treatment results between patient groups who had been referred following steroid treatment and those who received steroid treatment for the first time.SUBJECTS AND METHOD: We retrospectively analyzed 127 patients from January 2015 to August 2017. Patients who received steroid treatment for the first time were classified as group 1; those who had received steroid treatment at another hospital and those who were re-treated were classified as group 2. The treatment results of each group were evaluated.@*RESULTS@#According to the results of this study, the recovery rates for group 1 and 2 were 66.7% and 31.4%, respectively.@*CONCLUSION@#Most of the previous studies on the treatment results of sudden hearing loss were performed in tertiary medical institutions. It is likely that the treatment results of patients who recovered after treatment in the primary and secondary medical institutions were missed, which means that the results of steroid therapy may be better than those reported previously.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: For idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSHL) patients, steroids are one of the most important therapies which are used to reduce inflammation in the inner ear. However, dosage regimens of oral steroid therapy have not been well established. This study aims to investigate the progression in recovery from ISSHL, and the optimal dosage regimen with steroids. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: We undertook a retrospective study of 149 patients diagnosed with ISSHL at our institution. We compared various clinical parameters such as age, gender, vertigo, tinnitus, the interval between disease onset and initial treatment, and severity of hearing loss. The 149 patients were divided based on their steroid regimens into two groups: group 1 (which received 40 mg of prednisolone in the morning and 20 mg at night) and group 2 (which received 20 mg of prednisolone three times daily). We then compared the results of group 1 with that of group 2. RESULTS: Recovery rates in group 1 (58/90, 64.4%) were significantly higher in ISSHL than those in group 2 (27/59, 45.8%). In particular, the complete recovery rates of Siegel's criteria in group 1 (35/90, 38.9%) were higher than those in group 2 (12/59, 20.3%). Therapeutic results were affected by the presence of tinnitus. Of the patients with tinnitus, 64.3% in group 1, and 43.9% in group 2 recovered. CONCLUSION: In the group treated with twice-daily regimens, greater hearing improvements were observed compared with the group treated with three times-daily regimens. These findings suggest that higher dose for a single administration may be an important prognostic factor.