AUDIOVESTIBULAR MANIFESTATIONS OF CHIARI MALFORMATION AND OUTCOME OF SURGICAL DECOMPRESSION - A CASE-REPORT

Sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus, dizziness and ataxia are recogni sed symptoms associated with Chiari malformations but they are rarely the presenting complaints. Patients with such symptoms are frequently referred to otolaryngologists and audiological physicians. We report a case of a 13-year-old girl who presented complaining of tinnitus and impaired hearing, and was subsequently diagnosed as having a type I Ch iari malformation. Pure tone audiogram showed a mild hearing impairmen t on the left side and the speech audiogram was normal. Auditory brain stem responses and the electronystagmography were abnormal. The patie nt underwent posterior fossa decompression following which her tinnitu s disappeared, the hearing problem recovered and some of the abnormal electrophysiological parameters were corrected.