Humans ; Consensus ; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural/therapy* ; Hearing Loss, Sudden/therapy*

Hearing Loss, Sudden ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Humans

Acupuncture Therapy ; Female ; Hearing Loss, Sudden ; therapy ; Humans ; Middle Aged

Intractable sudden deafness is a kind of primary sudden deafness that is insensitive to the comprehensive treatment in modern medicine. Due to the close relationship between the ear and the "heart", combined with the characteristics of intractable sudden deafness, in the theoretic guidance of "the heart housing the mind", the acupuncture therapy for regulating the mind and nourishing the heart was introduced in treatment of intractable sudden deafness, the relevant theoretic evidences were explored and elaborated with the typical case.
Acupuncture Therapy ; Hearing Loss, Sudden ; therapy ; Humans ; Psychophysiology

OBJECTIVETo explore effective therapeutic methods for sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL).

METHODSThirty-four cases of mild and moderate SNHL who were definitely diagnosed with pure tone test and by otologists, including 24 cases of insufficiency of the liver and kidney, 10 cases of excess of liver-fire. They were treated with acupuncture at main points, Ermen (TE 21) or Tinggong (SI 19) or Tinghui (GB 2), and Yifeng (TE 17), Shenting (GV 24), Baihui (GB 20), Houding (GV19), Touwei (ST 9), Conger 1-3, Congnao 1-2; and adjuvant acupoints: Huangshu (KI 16), Qihai (CV 6), Guanyuan (CV 4), Taixi (KI 3) were added for insufficiency of the liver and kidney; Zhongwan (CV 12), Tianshu (ST 25), Yanglingquan (GB 34) and Taichong (LR 3) were added for excess of liver-fire. Sequential multipoint pulse stimulation was adopted, twice each week, for 20 consecutive weeks (40 sessions) and then pure tone test was carried out repeatedly.

RESULTSOf 34 cases (58 affected ears), 13 cases were cured and 21 improved, and the various linguistic frequency hearing threshold pure hearing values before and after treatment increased significantly (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONAcupuncture and continuous multipoint pulse stimulation has definite therapeutic effect on linguistic frequency hearing loss in the patient of SNHL.

Hearing Loss, Sensorineural/therapy* ; Hearing Loss, Sudden/therapy* ; Humans ; Hyperbaric Oxygenation ; Treatment Outcome ; United States

Hearing Loss, Sudden ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Humans ; Reference Standards

OBJECTIVETo understand the survey of studies on acupuncture and moxibustion for treatment of sensorineural hearing loss at home.

METHODSBy searching China journal web, 60 correlative papers from Jan. 1994 to Aug. 2004 were found and analyzed.

RESULTSDescriptive studies accounted for 71.7% and trial studies accounted for 28.3%. The diseases studied were mainly sudden deafness and the treatment methods were principally auricular acupuncture and body acupuncture. Most papers did not have definite diagnosis standard, and most criteria of therapeutic effects were self-stipulated, with no detail processing methods for the results, and only one paper reported adverse reaction.

CONCLUSIONThe therapeutic effects of acupuncture and moxibustion on sensorineural hearing loss need to be confirmed with studies of higher quality.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The effectiveness of intratympanic dexamethasone injections (ITD) alone is compared against the combination therapy of ITD and oral diuretics as treatments for acute low frequency sensorineural hearing loss (LFHL) without vertigo. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: A total of 36 patients, with LFHL < or =500 Hz that had been developed within the last 1 month, were enrolled and then were retrospectively categorized into two groups: 1) those treated with ITD four times each day for 4 consecutive days (ITD only group; 19 patients) and 2) those treated with ITD in the same way and diuretics orally for 2 weeks (combination group; 17 patients). After 8 weeks, treatment outcomes were analyzed for LFHL using subjective improvement and audiometric change. RESULTS: Hearing thresholds at low frequencies < or =500 Hz were significantly reduced at 8 weeks after treatment in both ITD only and combination group (p<0.05). The cure rate of the combination group was higher than that of the ITD only group but was not statistically significant (52.9% vs. 42.1%, p>0.05). For subjective symptoms, there were no statistically significant differences in the improvement rate in either group (combination 58.8% vs. ITD only 63.2%, p>0.05). In pure tone audiometry, the improvement rate of the combination group was not significantly different from that of the ITD only group (76.5% vs. 73.7%, p>0.05). There was a significant correlation between the complete recovery rate and duration of symptoms. CONCLUSION: ITD alone is an effective treatment modality for LFHL within 1 month after onset. Diuretics have no additive effect for the recovery of hearing in patients with acute LFHL without vertigo.
Audiometry ; Dexamethasone ; Diuretics* ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Hearing ; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural* ; Hearing Loss, Sudden ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Steroids ; Vertigo*

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of vasodilators for sudden sensorineural hearing loss. METHOD: Based on the principles and methods of Cocharne Systematic Reviews, we searched the cochrane central register of controlled trials, PubMed, Embase, ISI, the China biological medicine datebase, VIP, CNKI and Wangfang database. Randomized controlled trials about using vasodilators to treat sudden sensorineural hearing loss were included. Meta-analysis was performed for the results of homogeneous studies using RevMan software. RESULT: Twenty eight randomized control trials met the inclusion criteria. Seven studies showed vasodilators was not more effective than placebo. From 14 studies comparing vasodilators with vasodilators and 9 studies comparing vasodilators with other drugs, no definite conclusion could be drawn. CONCLUSION The evidence currently available does not support the use of vasodilators in the treatment of sudden sensorineural hearing loss. Further randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials are needed in order to define the efficacy and acceptability of vasodilators in the treatment of sudden sensorineural hearing loss.
Hearing Loss, Sensorineural ; drug therapy ; Hearing Loss, Sudden ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Vasodilator Agents ; therapeutic use