Treatment of intractable tinnitus due to acoustic trauma in war injury patients

To evaluate the value of intravenous lidocaine as a diagnostic tool and oral carbamazepine as treatment modality, we performed a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial on more than 100 patients with tinnitus who were referred to a special tinnitus clinic from 1990-1992. The selected subjects were from two equal groups, civilian patients [C.P.] and war-injury patients [W.I.P.] who suffered from intractable tinnitus after acoustic trauma. Our results revealed approximately 60% effectiveness of this mode of therapy, whereas false-positive response to normal saline [control] was 13% for C.P. and 26% for W.I.P