Mediterr. J. Otol 2008; 4:(3)

Comparison of the Outcomes of Four Different Treatment Protocols in Idiopathic Sudden Hearing Loss

Alper Ceylan, Yıldırım A. Bayazıt, Yusuf K. Kemaloğlu, Metin Yılmaz, Fatih Çelenk, Nebil Göksu, Suat Özbilen      

Department of Otolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, Gazi University, Besevler, Ankara, Turkey, facelenk@yahoo.com

Objective: To compare effectiveness of four different treatment protocols in idiopathic sudden hearing loss (ISHL).

Patients and Methods: The patients with ISHL were divided into four groups according to the treatment protocols applied; Group 1 (n=67) was treated with rheomacrodex, pentoxyphiline, heparin, papaverine, famotidine, and methylprednisolone 1 mg/kg/day iv. Group 2 (n=39), group 3 (n=19) and group 4 (n=60) were treated with acyclovir, famotidine, and methylprednisolone (1 mg/kg/day, 2 mg/kg/day and 3 mg/kg/day, respectively). The symptoms and audiologic parameters were compared between the groups.

Results: The PTAs (pure tone averages), and HG (hearing gain), RHG (relative hearing gain) and RR (recovery rate) scores of the groups were not significantly different (p>0.05). When the commencement of treatment was <5 days; the HG in group 1 was better than group 3; the RHG in group 4 was better than group 3; and the RR in group 1 was better than group 3 (p<0.05). When the commencement of treatment was between 5 and 10 days, there was no significant difference between the HG, RHG and RR scores of the groups (p>0.05). When the commencement of treatment was >10 days, the HG, RHG and RR scores in group 3 were

better than in the other groups (p<0.05), respectively.