Application of Dexamethasone Reduces Sensorineural High Frequency Hearing Loss after Mastoidectomy / 听力学及言语疾病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the protective effect of dexamethasone on hearing loss induced by canalwall-down mastoidectomy.Methods A total of 76 patients (76 ears) were randomized to dexamethasone group and non dexamethasone group with 38 patients in each group.For dexamethasone group,gelfoam soaked with dexamethasone (5 mg/ml) was topically applied to the round window niche at the end of the surgery,and dexamethasone was administrated intravenously at the dosage of 5 mg/50 kg immediately after the surgery.While for non-dexamethasone group,dexamctbasone was not used.The pure-tone audiograms were performed before mastoidectomy and 90 days after the surgery.Absolute bearing change was defined as the difference in hearing thresholds in decibels before and after the surgery.Results The changes of bone conduction thresholds in dexamethasone group were 8.3± 3.9 dB at 6 kHz,11.3±5.2 dB at 8 kHz,and 10.1±7.2 dB for HPTA (4-6-8 kHz high tone average).As in non-dexamethasone group,the changes of bone conduction thresholds were 13.7±4.6 dB at 6 kHz,25.1±5.4 dB at 8 kHz,19.3±9.7 dB for HPTA.There were significant differences in the changes of bone conduction thresholds between dexamethasone and non dexamethasone groups at frequencies of 6 kHz (P=0.039),8 kHz (P=0.007) and HPTA (P=0.009).Conclusion The results demonstrated that application of dexamethasone significantly reduced sensorineural high frequencies (6 kHz and 8 kHz) hearing loss after canal-wall down mastoidectomy,thus the use of dexamethasone is recommended.