Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine-associated tinnitus and treatment with transcranial magnetic stimulation

Abstract

The COVID-19 vaccine associated tinnitus had become well recognized after its development and widely usage. However, few knowledge about the management to relieve its severity had been few discussed. In the current case report, we present a case who suffered from worsening tinnitus after the second dosage of Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination. The pure tone audiometry (PTA) revealed hearing impairment after this vaccination with increased scores of tinnitus handicap index (THI). This tinnitus respond poorly to the low dosage steroid treatment. After the repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) treatment, the followed PTA was improved, along with the reduced THI scores. The current report provided a point of view that the anti-inflammatory effect by rTMS might be considered to be an alternative choice to manage COVID-19 vaccine associated tinnitus. Furthermore, in consideration of benefit and this minor and reversible adverse event, we still strongly recommend the continuation of the administration of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

COVID-19 vaccination-related tinnitus is associated with pre-vaccination metabolic disorders

“…Diabetes (with only 6 cases) was also trending correlated with the tinnitus severity. Hypertension ( Chen et al, 2021 ; Du et al, 2021; Li et al, 2021; Tan et al, 2021), obesity (Agarwal et al, 2021; Amin et al, 2021; Demeulemeester et al, 2021; Sattar and Valabhji, 2021) and diabetes (Berrajaa et al, 2021; Li et al, 2021; Sathish, 2021) are major risk factors for severity and mortality in COVID-19 patients. The common risk factors for the COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccination-related tinnitus suggest that they might share some common mechanisms.…”

“…A possible adverse effect is tinnitus. Cases of tinnitus have been reported following COVID-19 vaccination ( Parrino et al, 2021 ; Sadoff et al, 2021 ; Tseng, Chen, Sun, Chen and Chen, 2021 ; Canales Medina and Ramirez Gomez, 2022 ; Chen et al, 2022 ). Cases of tinnitus following COVID-19 vaccination has also been observed in the Vaccine Adverse Effect Reporting System (VAERS), the WHO Global Database of Individual Case Safety and vaccine clinical trial reports ( Frontera et al, 2022 ; Harpaz et al, 2022 ; Rausch and Yue, 2022 ; Sadoff et al, 2022 ; Woodcock and Bartels, 2022 ).…”