EFFECTIVENESS OF HYPERBARIC-OXYGEN THERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH ACUTE ANDCHRONIC COCHLEAR DISORDERS

Over the course of 18 months 359 patients with defined acute and chron ic inner ear disorders who had not responded to treatment with medicat ion were given hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy. The inner ear diseases of the patients were divided, based on the duration of their conditio ns, into four symptomatic groups. Of the patients who had had hearing loss for less than 3 months, noticeable improvement or complete recove ry was seen in 13% (20 dB in at least three test frequencies); 25.2% s howed an improvement between 10 and 20 dB. Changes up to 10 dB or less were not considered to be positive. Patients with a pretreated hearin g loss for more than 3 months had markedly less benefit from HBO thera py. Two percent regained normal hearing function. In 30% an improvemen t of more than 10 dB was achieved. For patients who had suffered from tinnitus for less than 3 months excellent improvement was seen in 6.7% and noticeable improvement in 44.3% expressed by means of a visual an alog scale. In 44.3% the tinnitus was described as unchanged. Patients who had had tinnitus for more than 3 months before HBO therapy showed a less favorable response to HBO. In none of the patients did the tin nitus disappear; 34.4% of the patients described a noticeable improvem ent in their complaints.