Intratympanic and systemic dexamethasone for Meniere's disease

Intratympanic and systemic dexamethasone treatment of Meniere's disease (MD ) was evaluated in a prospective study. Seventeen patients (6 men and 11 wo men) with MD (5 right-sided, 11 left-sided and 1 bilateral) were treated wi th three 0.2- to 0.4-ml injections of intratympanic dexamethasone hyalurona te (16 mg/ml) during a week and with an initial intramuscular dexamethasone injection of 15 mg. Most of patients were in stage 3, and the mean duratio n of MD was 5.3 years. Pure-tone and speech audiometry and the symptom scal e of the patients were followed up for 1 year after the treatment. Symptoms of aural fullness, hearing loss, tinnitus and vertigo did not improve sign ificantly. However, sufficient control of vertigo was achieved in 76% of th e patients. In conclusion, no definite treatment effect has yet been shown for intratympanic and systemic dexamethasone treatment. Therefore, the clin ical use of dexamethasone in MD needs further investigation. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG. Basel.