Detailed clinical characteristics and its correlation with the diagnostic test results in patients with defined Ménière’s disease

Abstract

<b>Introduction:</b> Ménière’s disease is characterized by vertigo episodes with nausea and vomiting accompanied by aural symptoms. Diagnosis is based on clinical manifestation and sensorineural hearing loss confirmed in pure tone audiometry.</br></br> <b>Aim:</b> The purpose was to evaluate clinical features and audiological and vestibular tests in patients with definite Ménière’s disease.</br></br> <b>Material and methods:</b> Seventy patients were enrolled in this study. The severity of the main clinical symptoms and audiological and vestibular tests were evaluated. The correlation between the clinical features and test results was evaluated.</br></br> <b>Results:</b> 14.29% of patients presented complete clinical characteristics as the first manifestation of Ménière’s disease. 50% of patients suffered from isolated aural symptoms during the early stage of the disease. The subpopulation reporting hearing improvement after vertigo attack (28.57%) was characterized by shorter disease duration than the rest of the group. A statistically significant correlation between disease duration and pure tone average was found. 17.14% of patients reported Tumarkin drop attacks in their past medical history. Neither disease duration nor functional level scale was different in these patients compared to other patients.</br></br> <b>Conclusions:</b> Ménière’s disease is often characterized by isolated aural symptoms or incomplete clinical manifestation during the early stage of the disease. The correlation between disease duration and pure tone average confirms that endolymphatic hydrops evolution causes hearing loss. A patient’s quality of life is a fundamental aspect of clinical assessment. No significant correlation between disease duration and functional level scale was found. Thus Ménière’s disease should be considered an individually variable and dynamic phenomenon.