Int. Adv. Otol. 2009; 6(1); 25-28

Use of intratympanic dexamethasone as a salvage treatment in idiopathic sudden hearing loss
Ilker Akyildiz, Yildirim A. Bayazit, Alper Ceylan, Metin Yilmaz, Hosseinali Jafari, Fatih Celenk,  Suat Ozbilen.
Gazi University Otolaryngology Dept. Besevler, Ankara, Turkey.   Email: bayazity@yahoo.com

Objective: We aimed to assess effect of intratympanic dexamethasone treatment on hearing in the patients who did not
respond to conventional systemic treatment of idiopathic sensorineural hearing loss (ISHL).

Materials and Methods: Fourteen consecutive patients with ISHL who did not respond to conventional parenteral treatment
(methyl-prednisolone 3 mg/kg/day which was tapered after 10 days, and acyclovir 3 gr/day for two weeks) were treated with
intratympanic dexamethasone, and evaluated with pure tone audiometry.

Results: The PTAs on initial admission and after completion of the parenteral treatment were 80.9 and 71.64 dB, respectively
(p>0.05). The PTA recovered to 57.1 dB after intratympanic injection, which was significantly better than with the parenteral
treatment (p<0.05). No serious complication was encountered.

Conclusion: Intratympanic steroid injections can be used safely and successfully in patients who do not response to the
conventional intravenous treatment. It can also be applied as the treatment of choice in ISHL, especially in patients who have
contraindication to systemic treatment with corticosteroids.