Endolymphatic Hydrops Denotes Degree of Hearing Loss in Meniere Disease

TUESDAY, Oct. 3, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- The greater the degree of endolymphatic hydrops, the greater the hearing loss in patients with Meniere disease, according to a study published in the September-October issue of the Brazilian Journal of Otorhinolaryngology.

Yan Huang, from the Capital Medical University at the Beijing Friendship Hospital, and colleagues investigated the relationship between endolymphatic hydrops and hearing loss characteristics among 54 patients (62 ears) with Meniere disease.

The researchers found that pure tone audiometry and staging were higher for vestibular endolymphatic hydrops complicated by cochlear ones versus isolated cochlear or vestibular hydrops. For vestibular endolymphatic hydrops, there was no significant correlation noted with pure-tonal audiometry or staging. There was a correlation observed between the degree of hydrops in the middle turn and the mid-frequency hearing threshold. There was also a correlation between the degree of cochlear hydrops and audiometry, low-frequency hearing thresholds, mid-frequency hearing thresholds, and staging.

"In summary, the greater the degree of endolymphatic hydrops in patients with Meniere's disease, the greater the hearing loss. This association is particularly evident in cases of cochlear endolymphatic hydrops," the authors write. "The types and sites of endolymphatic hydrops based on three-dimensional real inversion recovery sequence can be used to indicate the degree of hearing loss in patients with Meniere's disease."

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