Can intratympanic dexamethasone added to systemic steroids improve hearing outcome in patients with sudden deafness?

Abstract

To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of intratympanic dexamethasone (ITD) injections added to systemic steroids in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (HL). A total of 120 patients diagnosed with sudden HL were treated with ITD injections (0.3 mL on days 1, 3, and 5) plus 48 mg methylprednisolone (ITD group) or methylprednisolone alone (control group). The total recovery rate after the treatment was 73.3% in the ITD group and 70.0% in the control group. Although improvements in pure-tone average were the same in the two groups, the ITD group showed significantly better hearing improvement at 250 Hz than the control group. The addition of ITD to systemic steroids did not result in significant improvements in the treatment of idiopathic sudden HL.