OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE EVALUATION OF HEARING LOSS AFTER SPINAL ANESTHESIA USING PURE-TONE AUDIOMETRY AND TRANSIENT-EVOKED OTOACOUSTIC EMISSIONS
1Derindere Hastanesi, Ortopedi ve Travmatoloji Kliniği, İstanbul, Turkey2Gaziosmanpaşa Taksim Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Kulak Burun Boğaz Hastalıkları, İstanbul, Turkey Objective: To evaluate the hearing loss after spinal anesthesia using objective and subjective hearing assessment tests.
Methods: Thirty male patients aged between 20 and 50 years who underwent orthopedic lower extremity surgery between June 2018 and December 2018 were included in the study. Demographic findings such as age, height, weight, volume replacement during surgery and duration of the surgery were recorded for the patient group. Pure tone audiometry and transient-evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) tests were applied in each patient once preoperative and postoperative tests.
Results: The present study consists of data from 60 ears of 30 patients. Frequency-specific audiometric results were significantly different between preoperative and postoperative day one results at 0.25 and 0.5 kHz (p = 0.004). In the study group, no difference in TEOAE response amplitude was detected at any frequency on postoperative day one. Regarding TEOAE results, there was no statistically significant difference between preoperative and postoperative day one results for 60 ears (p > 0.05).
Conclusion: Our results indicate that spinal anesthesia results in a low frequency subjective hearing loss with no objective significance. Clinicians should be cautious about this, inform patients before the surgery and deliver the anesthesia with the thinnest diameter needle possible.
Keywords : Hearing loss; spinal anesthesia; pure tone audiometry; otoacoustic emissions