THE SUDDEN SENSORINEURAL HEARING LOSS INCONSISTENT WITH THE DEFINITION CRITERIA
1Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi, KBB, Isparta, Turkey Objective: The definition of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) is widely used in the literature. However, there are many cases in clinical practice that do not meet this definition. We aimed to analyze these unclassified patients to demonstrate their responses to systemic steroid therapy and their clinical features. We also aimed to compare them with the patients in the literature that are compatible with the definition.Methods: Thirty five patients with acute onset hearing loss but not meeting SSHL definition criteria in the literature were analyzed. After statistical analysis of audiometric measurements before and after treatment, two groups were recruited. Patients with hearing loss less than 3 frequencies recruited to group 1 and hearing loss at 3 or more consecutive frequencies, but with an average loss of less than 30 dB were included in group 2. Then these two groups were compared.
Results: There were statistically significant differences between the patients at all frequencies before and after treatment (p=0.000, p=0.001, p=0.001, p=0.005, p=0.000, respectively). No statistically significant difference was found between two groups in terms of age, gender, affected side, hipertension, diabetes mellitus, tinnitus, vertigo, hiperlipidemia and recovery rates.
Conclusion: Patients with acute onset hearing loss but did not meet SSHL definition in the literature are common. In our study, we observed that systemic steroid therapy is effective in the treatment of these patients.
Keywords : Sudden sensorineural hearing loss, definition criteria, guideline, systemic steroid therapy