[Value and status of neurologic, serologic, internal medicine and orthopedic studies in routine diagnosis of sudden deafness].

One hundred and eighteen patients with acute unilateral sensorineural hearing loss were examined. Diagnosis included a neurological, orthopedic, and internal medical examination. Serological tests were performed including influenza-, parainfluenza-, adenovirus-, RS-virus, enterovirus-, morbilli-, varicella- and cytomegalie-virus-KBR, also the serological tests for toxoplasmosis, rheuma, lues, mycosis, and Borrelia. The examinations allowed conclusions to be drawn about a possible etiology in five of the patients only: in one patient it was possible to detect an acute infection with morbilli virus; in two other patients, an acute lues infection was detected. In two other patients, neurological examinations showed symptoms of a brainstem disease. The authors' experience shows that the following examinations are useful in the diagnosis of acute unilateral sensorineural hearing loss: the recording of acoustically evoked brainstem potentials, an otoneurological examination, a neurological examination to detect a possible centrally located reason for the hearing loss, serological examinations for lues, toxoplasmosis, Borrelia, and the virus KBR if there is any suspicion of a previous virus infection. An orthopedic examination should be performed, if functional aspects, especially of the craniocervical segment are under consideration.