AUTOIMMUNE SENSORINEURAL HEARING-LOSS ASSOCIATED WITH ARTHRITIS

We discuss a young patient who presented with autoimmune sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and arthritis. Sensorineural hearing loss has bee n associated with a number of rheumatologic conditions, including Wege ner's granulomatosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjogren's syndrome , and Cogan's syndrome. Unlike patients previously reported on who wer e relatively responsive to corticosteroid therapy, our patient progres sed to bilateral complete hearing loss despite an aggressive managemen t with different immunosuppressive regimens. The unusual feature in ou r patient was the presence of an inflammatory arthropathy. Clinicians should be aware that SNHL can be an initial presentation of a rheumati c disorder.