Treatment of Meniere's Disease with Low-Concentration Intratympanic Gentamicin Injection

Kwon, Min Su; Lee, Sung Bu; Ahn, Joong Ho; Yoon, Tae Hyun; Chung, Jong Woo

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Intratympanic gentamicin injection is used as one of the treatment modalities for medically intractable Meniere's disease. But the ideal dosage and concentration of gentamicin were not established in consideration of therapeutic efficacy and the risk of postoperative hearing loss. We analyzed the clinical outcome of low-concentration intratympanic gentamicin injection in patients with Meniere's disease. And we also tried to find factors anticipating for the response to treatment.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
A retrospective review was conducted on 45 subjects who had been diagnosed as 'definite' Meniere's disease (AAO-HNS, 1995) and had no response to medical treatment over 3 months in our clinic. The concentration of gentamicin was 7 mg/cc, which was very low compared with previous studies. We reviewed postoperative changes on vertigo, tinnitus and hearing by questionnaire and pure tone audiometry. We also analyzed preoperative patients' characteristics for acquisition of predictive factors of treatment response.
RESULTS
Vertigo was completely disappeared in 37 (82%) patients and there was no vertigo improvement in 8 (18%) patients despite multiple injections. Tinnitus was controlled in 11 (24%) patients, and aggravated in 4 (8%) patients. A significant postoperative hearing loss over 10 dB occurred in only 6 (13%) patients. Preoperative patients' hearing threshold, frequency of vertigo, functional level and finding in electrical test, such as electrocochleogram, were not different regarding treatment response.
CONCLUSION
Low-concentration gentamicin was enough to control vertigo and could reduce the risk of postoperative hearing loss in patients with Meniere's disease.