Tympanotomy and sealing of the round window for treatment of sudden deafness.

Introduction: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of explorative tympanotomy and sealing of the round window in patients diagnosed with sudden deafness.

Material and methods: A retrospective study of 22 patients presenting with sudden deafness who were treated with exploratory tympanotomy and sealing of the round window. The patients initially received conservative therapy for one month. If conservative treatment had no effect, exploratory tympanotomy and sealing of the round window was performed.

Results: The median pure tone average was 67 dB before surgery. Post-operatively, it was reduced to 55 dB. This is equivalent to a 12 dB (p = 0.008) improvement. Five patients improved beyond 30 dB and three patients out of 22 fulfilled the Belfast criteria for binaural hearing at the end of the observation period. Furthermore, three months after surgery, the incidence of vertigo and tinnitus had decreased from 58% to 8% and from 50% to 17%, respectively (p < 0.001 and p = 0.04). None of the patients experienced any severe or life-threatening complications.

Conclusion: The results suggest that explorative tympanotomy and sealing of the round window may improve hearing and reduce tinnitus and vertigo after spontaneous remission has come to an end. However, randomized controlled studies are needed.