Does 'cochlear Ménière's disease' exist? An electrocochleographic and audiometric study.

INTRODUCTION

According to current diagnostic criteria, patients exhibiting only cochlear symptoms without vertigo cannot be diagnosed with Ménière's disease (MD). The recently reported Ménière's Disease Index (MDI) combines audiometric and electrocochleographic parameters in a multidimensional measure correlating with the clinical degrees of MD.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

Twenty-one patients with hearing loss, tinnitus and aural fullness, but without vertigo, underwent transtympanic electrocochleography. Based on the previously reported formula, the MDI value for every patient was calculated.

RESULTS

Mean MDI value was 5.7 on a scale from 0 (mean value of non-MD patients) to 10 (mean value of definite MD patients).

CONCLUSIONS

We can thus hypothesize that, based on audiometry and electrocochleography, 'cochlear MD' patients may represent a separate clinical entity with Ménière-like pathophysiology or underlying endolymphatic hydrops.