[The value of labyrinthectomy in the treatment of Menière's disease (author's transl)].

Surgical labyrinthectomy in patients with Menière's disease produces unsatisfactory results in 10-70% of the cases. A pathological process in the vestibular nerve comprising an increase in connective tissue formation and the development of bony material within the nerve is possibly the reason for the pathological function of the vestibular system. This process may arise after a mechanical trauma to the labyrinth. Labyrinthectomy should be performed only for the treatment of Menière's disease if other therapeutical regimens or neurectomy under general anaesthesia cannot be tolerated by the patients.