[Intratympatic budesonide injection for treatment of refractorysudden sensorineural hearing loss]

Objective:To investigate intratympanic steroid injection for treatment of sudden sensorineural hearing loss after failure of initial systemic therapy,and discuss the role of steroid in refractory sudden sensorineural hearing loss.Method:We included 90 patients who did not response to initial systemic therapy of sudden hearing loss.This research adopted the randomized,controlled trial of clinical research.Ninety qualified patients were divided into 3 groups,30 for each group,intratympanic budesonide for experimental group,dexamethasone for control group-1 while control group-2 did not take intratympanic steroid injection but continue another round of systemic therapy.Intratympanic injection was performed 3 times a week and last for 2 weeks.Alprostadil,mecobalamin,ginkgo biloba extract injection,PNS injection and intravenous hyperbaric oxygen fluid were used for consecutive 10 days in the control group-2.Pure tone audiometry and speech Discrimination Score was retaken at the end of each therapy.Result:The results show that the average PTA of damaged frequencies improved more than 10 dB was considered significant,we had 26.7%(8/30) patients meet this criteria in experiment group,30.0%(9/30) in the control group-1 and 6.7%(2/30) in the control group-2.And the recovery rate between these 3 groups is statistically significant(P<0.05),the average PTA improvement in the experimental group,control group-1 and control-2 was(5.0±11.1)dB,(4.2±12.5)dB and (0±3.33)dB respectively,P<0.05,control group-2 was significantly different from control group-1 and experimental group.The Speech Discrimination Score improvement rates in the experimental group,control group-1 and control-2 was 16.7%,12.0% and 4.2% respectively,but the difference in those 3 groups was not significant.Conclusion:Budesonide intratympanic injection is a save method in treating refractory sudden hearing loss ,and it is as effective as dexamethasone.Intratympanic steroids could be an option for refractory sudden sensorineural hearing loss patients.