Acupuncture an alternative treatment for patients with refractory sudden sensorineural hearing loss

Year 2020, Volume: 30 Issue: 4, 140 - 146, 15.12.2020

Elif Kaya Çelik Nuray Gülgönül Kemal Keseroğlu Murad Mutlu Güleser Saylam İstemihan Akın Mehmet Hakan Korkmaz

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the effect of acupuncture treatment on hearing and tinnitus in patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss SNHL refractory to treatment. Patients and Methods: Between January 2013 and May 2015, a total of 25 patients 8 males, 17 females; median age: 43.3 years; range, 18 to 65 years resistant to medical treatment who underwent acupuncture as salvage therapy were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were evaluated with pure-tone audiometry, Speech Discrimination Score SDS , and Tinnitus Handicap Inventory THI at pre-treatment T0 , and after 10th T1 and 20th sessions T2 of acupuncture. Results: Hearing loss evaluated according to the four-frequency pure-tone average PTA; 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 4,000 kHz showed a statistically significant improvement at the end of the 10th session of acupuncture p=0.017 . There was also a significant improvement in the PTA values of the worst three consecutive frequencies at the end of the 20th session p=0.034 . A significant improvement in SDS p=0.022 and THI p<0.001 was found at the end of the 20th session. Conclusion: Acupuncture treatment yields promising results in the improvement of PTA. The therapeutic effect of acupuncture is also evident in the treatment of tinnitus secondary to SNHL.

Keywords

Acupuncture, salvage therapy, sudden sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus, treatment

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