Hearing loss in progressive systemic sclerosis patients: A comparative study

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the middle and inner ear involvement in patients with progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS), STUDY DESIGN AND SETTINGS: We prospectively evaluated 34 PSS patients. All patients underwent a complete ear-nose-throat physical examination and audi ological evaluation with pure tone, impedance, and speech audiometry. In ad dition, systemic manifestations of the disease and drug therapy were record ed. Finally, all patients were tested for the presence of autoantibodies, T he results were compared with those of 45 age-matched healthy subjects. RESULTS: We found a sensorineural hearing loss in 20% and mixed type hearin g loss in 3.3% of the patients. There was no correlation of hearing loss wi th age, systemic manifestations of the disease, presence of autoantibodies, and drug therapy Ten percent of the patients had patulous eustachian tubes . CONCLUSION: One fourth of PSS patients had a hearing loss affecting the mid dle and mainly the high frequencies. This is a lower percentage than that r eported by other investigators. A significant prevalence of bilateral patul ous eustachian tubes was noticed as well. Further investigation is needed f or a better understanding of the mechanism of ear damage in PSS patients.