Deafness in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating disease and is considered the most debilitating neurological disorder among young adults. Sudden deafness has been reported in MS patients. This article describes cases of sudden deafness related to acute bouts in MS patients. A survey was conducted using 405 records of MS patients attended to at a reference center in the city of Rio de Janeiro between 2011 and 2012 to identify cases of sudden deafness. Seven patients were identified, 6 with a relapsing-remitting course and 1 with progressive disease at onset. Five patients had unilateral deafness and 2 bilateral. The recovery was complete in 4 and partial in 1, and there was no recovery in 2 patients. It was not possible to establish a topographical correlation between deafness and brainstem lesions. Audiometric examinations revealed severe hearing loss during the bout and recovery of hearing in 5 cases after remission.

Management of Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss in Multiple Sclerosis: A Comprehensive Case Report of a Patient with Bilateral Loss and Literature Review

“…A total of 10 ears were affected, with no recovery observed in three ears (recovery rate: 70%). While this appears somewhat different from the recovery rate of 94.1% observed in the unilateral cases (32 out of 34 ears), it is worth noting that one patient with bilateral involvement did not receive corticosteroid treatment [29]. Ultimately, considering the recovery observed in seven out of eight treated ears (87.5%), it seems that there is no significant difference in recovery rates between unilateral and bilateral cases.…”

“…We would like to address the literature concerning bilateral SSNHL in MS. There were three studies reporting cases of sudden hearing loss occurring bilaterally, encompassing four patients [29,30,33]. Including the case we presented, the total number of patients is five, making it considerably rarer compared with the unilateral cases (36 patients).…”

“…Only one case showed no hearing recovery, while the remaining 10 (90.1%) demonstrated substantial hearing improvement within one to two months, indicating a highly favorable outcome. Leite et al presented seven cases of hearing loss in MS, where two individuals experienced hearing loss as the initial symptom of MS, while the others developed it within three to nineteen years after MS diagnosis (Table 1) [29]. Notably, three out of five cases with post-diagnosis hearing loss received no specific treatment, with one showing no recovery and the other two achieving partial recovery.…”

Association of multiple sclerosis and sudden sensorineural hearing loss

“…In a Brazilian survey of 405 MS patients with a relapse, seven (1.7%) were diagnosed with SSHL. 20 In another series from Israel, 4.4% of MS patients (11 of 253 patients) were diagnosed with SSHL within a 6-year study period. 21 These smaller samples showed a higher frequency of SSHL.…”