Sudden sensorineural hearing loss with end-stage renal disease: a report of 32 cases

Abstract

Background: Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) have a higher risk of suffering sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL), but little is known about this population.

Aims and objectives: To investigate the clinical characteristics, treatment and recovery of SSNHL patients with ESRD.

Materials and methods: Records of 32 SSNHL patients with ESRD were reviewed, including clinical characteristics and hearing recovery. Patients were divided into intratympanic steroid (ITS) group and oral steroid (OS) group, and hearing recovery was compared between two groups.

Results: Twenty-six patients (81.3%) exhibited tinnitus, and 18 patients (56.3%) suffered vertigo. Mean pure-tone threshold at the initial presentation was 73.2 ± 19.4 dB, and the audiogram configuration was ascending in 9.4%, descending in 9.4%, flat in 34.4% and profound in 46.9% cases. At 3-month follow-up, percentages of patients in complete recovery, partial recovery, slight recovery, and no improvement were 18.8%, 31.3%, 21.9% and 28.1%, respectively. Furthermore, the overall recovery rate, complete recovery rate and hearing improvement were significantly higher in the ITS group than those in the OS group.

Conclusion: SSNHL patient with ESRD often suffered a severe hearing loss with a high rate of accompanying tinnitus and vertigo. ITS may provide better audiological results for SSNHL with ESRD than OS.

Chinese abstract

背景：末期肾病（ESRD）患者患突发性感音神经性耳聋（SSNHL）的风险较高, 但对该人群的了解甚少。

目的：探讨ESRD患者SSNHL的临床特点、治疗和康复。

材料和方法：回顾了32例SSNHL患者的ESRD记录, 包括临床特征和听力恢复。将患者分为鼓室内类固醇（ITS）组和口服类固醇（OS）组, 并比较两组的听力恢复情况。

结果：26例患者（81.3％）出现耳鸣, 18例患者（56.3％）出现眩晕。症状刚出现时的平均纯音阈值为73.2±19.4 dB, 听力图形上升的病例占 9.4％, 下降的占9.4％, 持平的占34.4％, 深度的占46.9％。在3个月的随访中, 完全康复、部分恢复、轻微恢复和无改善的患者百分比分别为18.8％、31.3％、21.9％和28.1％。此外, ITS组的总体恢复率、完全恢复率和听力改善率明显高于OS组。

结论：患有ESRD的SSNHL患者常伴有严重的听力损失, 伴有耳鸣和眩晕。 ITS可以为ESN的SSNHL患者提供比OS更好的听力结果。

Keywords:

• Sudden sensorineural hearing loss
• end-stage renal disease
• intratympanic steroid
• oral steroid

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.