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Randomized, double blind, placebo controlled trial on the safety and efficacy of continuous intratympanic dexamethasone delivered via a round window catheter for severe to profound sudden idiopathic sensorineural hearing loss after failure of systemic therapy.

AbstractOBJECTIVES:
To study the safety and efficacy of continuous intratympanic dexamethasone-phosphate (Dex-P) for severe to profound sudden idiopathic sensorineural hearing (ISSHL) or sudden idiopathic anacusis after failure of systemic therapy.
STUDY DESIGN:
Randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled multicenter trial.
METHODS:
Patients with ISSHL and insufficient recovery (mean 4PTA = 97 dB HL) after systemic high dose glucocorticoid therapy received either Dex-P (4 mg/ml) or placebo (NaCl 0.9%) continuously applied for 14 days into the round window niche via a temporarily implanted catheter. For ethical reasons, intratympanic treatment was continued with Dex-P in all patients for another 14 days after the placebo-controlled study period. According to a two-step adaptive study design an interim analysis was performed after inclusion of 23 patients.
RESULTS:
Intention-to-treat analysis for the primary outcome criterion (4PTA: 0.5-3 kHz) during the placebo controlled study period (14 days) showed an average hearing improvement in the treatment group of 13.9 dB (SD: 21.3) and in the placebo group of 5.4 dB (SD: 10.4). This difference in hearing improvement between the two groups (mean: 8.4 dB, SD: 17.0, 95% CI: -7.1-24.1) was statistically not significant (p = .26). Of the secondary outcome parameters, the largest benefit of local salvage therapy was found for maximum speech discrimination with an improvement of 24.4% (SD: 32.0) in the treatment and 4.5% (SD: 7.6) in the placebo group (p = 0.07). After a 3 month follow-up period (i.e. after all patients received intratympanic Dex-P) hearing improvement in the two groups was very similar. No serious adverse events were observed. Sample size calculation after the interim analysis resulted in stopping of the trial.
CONCLUSIONS:
The tendency toward better hearing improvement in the treatment group, the rather conservative inclusion criteria, the limited placebo-controlled observation period and the absence of serious adverse events supports further investigation local inner ear drug delivery as a first or second line treatment option for ISSHL.
AuthorsStefan K Plontke, Hubert Löwenheim, Jürgen Mertens, Corinna Engel, Christoph Meisner, Andy Weidner, Rainer Zimmermann, Serena Preyer, Assen Koitschev, Hans-Peter Zenner
JournalThe Laryngoscope (Laryngoscope) Vol. 119 Issue 2 Pg. 359-69 (Feb 2009) ISSN: 1531-4995 [Electronic] United States
PMID19172627 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Multicenter Study, Randomized Controlled Trial, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
Chemical References
  • Glucocorticoids
  • Placebos
  • Dexamethasone
Topics
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Audiometry
  • Catheterization
  • Dexamethasone (administration & dosage)
  • Double-Blind Method
  • Drug Administration Routes
  • Female
  • Glucocorticoids (administration & dosage)
  • Hearing Loss, Sensorineural (drug therapy)
  • Hearing Loss, Sudden (drug therapy)
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Placebos
  • Round Window, Ear
  • Treatment Failure
  • Treatment Outcome

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