PROGNOSIS OF MENIERES-DISEASE BY CONSERVATIVE TREATMENT - RETROSPECTIVE STUDY ON THE TIME-COURSE OF THE DISEASE

The incidence of Meniere's disease was investigated in a total of 3222 patients with vertigo or dizziness who had visited Kitasato Universit y Hospital during 1985-1991. Two hundred and fifty-one of the cases (7 .8%) were found to suffer from Meniere's disease and the male:female r atio was 1:1. Seventy cases of Meniere's disease with complete records were classified into five groups, depending on the duration of the il lness since its onset. Both ears were affected in 12 (17.1%) of the pa tients but in 4 (33.3%) of prolonged 12 patients having more than 15 y ears after the onset. All 70 patients had been treated conservatively, except for 3 who had undergone surgery. Frequency of vertiginous atta cks and hearing impairment during the last year in each group were ret rospectively compared with those of the other groups. No vertiginous a ttacks were experienced in 13 (24.1%) cases. The average number of ver tigo attacks during the last year was 4.5 per year in 49 cases. Adequa te therapy is desirable within one year after the onset of Meniere's d isease: the results showed the frequency of vertiginous attacks to be lowest and hearing levels to be best in the first group who were treat ed less than one year after the onset, in comparison with the other pr olonged cases.