Sudden deafness is characterized as a sensorineural deafness, having an abrupt onset and an unknown cause. It is usually unilateral; tinnitus is present in approximately 80 percent of all cases and vertigo in 30 percent. The differential diagnosis includes some others diseases, such as infectious, hematological, neurological and most likely, the vestibular schawnnoma. The etiophatogenic factors of sudden deafness are unknown; some hypothesis are considered: experimental studies have proved the vascular hypothesis, which is well known; the viral hypothesis is widely accepted, but it has failed in the laboratorial comprovation; most recently the appearance of the autoimmune hypothesis which was proved by immune laboratorial studies, and finally, the hypothesis of the membrane's rupture (fistula's theory) is behind the others because of the difficulty in proving it. Sudden deafness is ultimately considered as an entity of multifactorial ethiopathogenic factors. Treatment of sudden deafness is very controversial. The administration of corticosteriods and vasodilatators drugs is widely accepted since prescription is easily done and inexpensive. The correct approach to sudden deafness is to individualize each patient and to establish different types of treatments depending on the needs of each case. In the near future, different kinds of treatment will take the place of the famous protocols treatments encouraged by many authors.
Sudden deafness