RESUMO
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: We investigated the feasibility of intra-tympanic steroid injection (ITS) treatment alone for patients with severe or profound sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL), who have medical problems in systemic steroid use. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Medical records of 43 patients from March 2012 to March 2014 were investigated. Patients who did not have any medical problems in steroid use were treated by systemic steroid but patients with medical problems were treated by ITS alone. RESULTS: Systemic steroid was used in 32 patients, and 11 patients were treated by ITS alone. The mean follow up periods were 6.5±1.4 weeks for ITS only, and 6.5±2.6 weeks for the systemic steroid group. In the final audiometry results, the mean hearing level and the mean gain of affected ear in the two groups were not different, and the mean differences with unaffected ear in the two groups showed no differences. However, five patients of systemic steroid group recovered completely by Siegel's criteria. CONCLUSION: ITS only therapy for SSNHL is considered a great alternative for patients whose condition does not allow systemic steroid therapy.