What Researchers Did
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to compare the additive effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) to intratympanic steroid injections (ITSI) for sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL).
What They Found
Among 119 patients (73 ITSI, 46 HBOT+ITSI), both groups showed significant pre-to-posttreatment improvement in hearing outcomes (p < 0.001). However, there was no significant difference in improvement between the HBOT+ITSI and ITSI-only groups for pure tone average (p=0.49), speech recognition threshold (p=0.07), or word recognition score (p=0.55). Notably, 25.8% of HBOT responders showed no initial response to ITSI alone but improved after an average of 17.5 HBOT dives.
What This Means for Canadian Patients
Canadian patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss might not benefit from adjunctive hyperbaric oxygen therapy concurrently with intratympanic steroids. However, for those who do not respond to initial steroid treatment, HBOT could be considered as a subsequent option.
Canadian Relevance
This study includes a Canadian author, indicating potential contributions from Canadian researchers to the understanding and treatment of sudden sensorineural hearing loss. The findings are relevant to treatment protocols for SSNHL in Canada.
Study Limitations
As a retrospective study, this research is limited by its design, which may introduce biases and confounders.