Objective-To assess patient satisfaction with vertigo control using intratympanic (IT) dexamethasone (12 mg/mL) for medically refractory unilateral Ménière's disease.Study Design-Retrospective study.
Setting-Tertiary referral neurotology clinic.Patients-One hundred twenty-nine subjects diagnosed with unilateral Ménière's disease still having vertigo despite medical therapy.
Intervention-IT dexamethasone injections as needed to control vertigo attacks.Main Outcome Measure-A Kaplan-Meier time-to-event method was used to determine the rate of "survival," meaning sufficient satisfaction with vertigo control that the subject did not wish to have subsequent ablative treatment. "Failure" was defined as poor control and the choice to proceed to ablative treatment.Results-Acceptable vertigo control ("survival") was achieved in 117 (91%) of 129 subjects. Vertigo control required only one dexamethasone injection in 48 (37%), 2 injections in 26 (20%), 3 injections in 18 (14%), and 4 injections in 10 (8%). More than 4 injections were needed in 15 subjects (21%). Of 12 failures (9%), 9 occurred within 6 months of the first IT dexamethasone injection. Follow-up data for 2 years were available for 96 subjects. Of these, 87 (91%) had vertigo control with IT dexamethasone, of whom 61 (70)% required no further injections after 2 years, 23 (26%) continued to receive IT dexamethasone injections, and 3 (3%) chose IT gentamicin treatment.Conclusion-IT dexamethasone injection therapy on an as-needed outpatient basis can provide vertigo control that is satisfactory in patients with Ménière's disease. The Kaplan-Meier method addresses the need for an outcome measure suited to repeated treatments and variable lengths of follow-up. However, due to the retrospective nature of this study, the presence of bias caused by loss of subjects from follow-up cannot be ruled out.
When comparisons are adjusted for unaided condition, the bone-anchored hearing device provided auditory and subjective benefit in subjects with ipsilateral conductive hearing loss and contralateral normal hearing or conductive hearing loss. It gave marginal benefit in ipsilateral mixed and contralateral mixed or sensorineural hearing loss. No differences were found between the Compact, Intenso, and Divino processors.
The efficacy of gentamicin administered intratympanically is high after long-term follow-up as shown by the disappearance of vertigo spells and by the reduction in disability, increase in perception of quality of life, and reduction in anxiety related to vestibular symptoms. Unsteadiness, although an infrequent complaint, determines a level of almost similar severity in those issues. Special care must be taken with patients with a Functional Level Scale score of 6 at the time of beginning treatment.
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