Congenital malformation of the inner ear and recurrent meningitis. A case report.

Congenital deformities of the inner ear can be associated with meningitis and varying degrees of hearing loss or deafness. Recurrent periods of meningitis, sometimes lethal, are due to communication between the middle ear cavity and the subarachnoid space. Different types of congenital dysplasia have been classified earlier and we report a 3-year-old girl with unilateral deafness, episodes of meningitis and a malformation of the inner ear and the footplate of the stapes.