Long-Term Hearing Results following Middle Fossa Vestibular Nerve Section

Abstract

Hearing stabilization following middle fossa vestibular nerve section (MFVNS) has been observed to occur in a large percentage of patients (71% to 86%) after short-term followup. This study looks at the long-term audiological followup (5 to 15 years) of 46 patients who underwent a MFVNS for intractable Meniere's disease. Although the percentage of patients with stabilized hearing was relatively high within the first 2 years postoperatively (61%), it dropped to 41% after a longer followup of 5 to 15 years. When this patient population is divided into two groups based on their preoperative PTA, those patients in whom hearing had bottomed out to ≥50 dB PTA preoperatively lost only 5 dB PTA over the course of the follow-up period. The patients with better preoperative hearing (<50 dB PTA) lost 30 dB PTA over the same follow-up period. As this pattern is similar to what has been observed in nonsurgically treated Meniere's patients, we conclude that the MFVNS has no beneficial effect on the hearing loss associated with Meniere's disease.