Effect of single-drug treatment on idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss

Use of Vasodilators In Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss: A Systematic Review

“…All retrieved studies were of moderate (level 2b) to high methodological quality (level 1) based on the international accepted standards of the Cochrane handbook [8] . Two studies were retrospective [9,10] and three were prospective [11][12][13] , involving a total of 611 participants. The assessment of these studies revealed no uniformity in patient inclusion regarding the onset of hearing impairment (within 48 h [7] to up to 2 weeks [8][9][10][11] after beginning of symptoms), treatment allocation (various doses depending on the chosen medication Table 2.…”

“…Lee et al [10] ( [10,13] , two studies used the criteria of the Acute Severe Hearing Loss Study Group [11,12] , and one study used a PTA of >10 dB [9] ). Randomization and adequate blinding of the studies was either not reported or the information was lacking [11][12][13] .…”

“…Randomization and adequate blinding of the studies was either not reported or the information was lacking [11][12][13] . One large wellconducted multicenter study achieved reproducible baseline criteria, standardization, and randomization [12] . However, unequivocal treatment strategies were chosen (six different regimens).…”

“…Some showed significant improvement after treatment compared with the control group, although other studies did not reveal evidence in favor of any intervention [9][10][11][12][13] . Fetterman et al [9] demonstrated that no difference exists in the outcome between steroid or vasodilator treatment; however, they found a possible cumulative effect (optimal hearing recovery) when these treatments were combined.…”

“…Most of the included studies were of relatively poor quality. The studies used different outcomes, three articles used a reduction in PTA of 10 dB [9,11,12] , and two studies used an improvement of 15 dB, according to the Siegel's criteria [10,13] . Therefore, the results of the studies that used the Siegel's (more strict) criteria may be inferior to those of studies that used 10 dB as the cut-off value.…”