MEDICAL-TREATMENT OF MENIERES-DISEASE - A REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A review of the literature on drug therapy for Meniere's disease was m ade using the Medline on-line biomedical database to screen publicatio ns between January 1978 and April 1995. In total there were only 118 p ublications in this 17-year period which specifically dealt with medic al therapy for Meniere's disease. It appears that only betahistine and diuretics have a proven effect in double-blind studies on long-term c ontrol of vertigo in Meniere's disease. No medical therapy, however, h as a proven effect on hearing or long-term evolution of the disease. T here are multiple reports, especially in the recent literature, regard ing the intratympanal use of aminoglycosides for vertigo control. Base d on this literature review and on empirical findings, a strategy for medical treatment of Meniere's disease is proposed.