Endolymphatic hydrops and blood–labyrinth barrier in Ménière's disease

Abstract

Conclusions: The blood–labyrinth barrier is impaired in association with the hydrops grade in Ménière's disease. Objectives: To investigate the relationship between endolymphatic hydrops and the clinical characteristics of patients with Ménière's disease revealed by 3 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods: A double dose of gadoteridol (Gd; 0.2 mmol/kg) was injected intravenously in 12 patients with Ménière's disease. We performed three-dimensional fluid attenuated inversion recovery MRI and three-dimensional real inversion recovery MRI 4 h later using a 3 T MRI unit. Ten patients had unilateral and two had bilateral Ménière's disease. Results: Fourteen ears with Ménière's disease showed intense Gd contrast on MRI compared with that in the 10 asymptomatic contralateral ears of patients with unilateral Ménière's disease (1.12 ± 0.36 vs 0.82 ± 0.15). The hydrops grade was correlated significantly with the contrast effect. The 14 ears with Ménière's disease had endolymphatic hydrops. Of the 10 contralateral ears of patients with unilateral Ménière's disease, 2 had endolymphatic hydrops in the cochlea and 6 had endolymphatic hydrops in the vestibule.

Keywords::

• 3 T magnetic resonance imaging
• three-dimensional fluid attenuated inversion recovery
• 3D FLAIR
• contrast effect
• signal intensity ratio
• contralateral ear

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by research grants from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.