Perilymph fistula: a cause of auditory, vestibular, neurological and psychiatric disorder.

It is suggested that damage by mild trauma, viruses or bone disease to the otic capsule or to the membranes between the cochlea and the middle ear is common, and involved in many syndromes of obscure etiology. The clinical perilymph fistula (PF) syndrome can consist of any combination of the following: tinnitus, deafness, phonophobia, vertigo, ataxia, otalgia, facial palsy, headache, diplopia, blackouts, psychological distress. The following testable hypotheses are proposed: otitis media is due to perilymph in the middle ear, with secondary changes resulting from infection or inflammation: otosclerosis results from a slow leak in the presence of enzymes promoting bone growth: Meniere's syndrome follows reduced perilymph support for the endolymphatic system: Bell's palsy results from a perilymph provoked oedema in the bony facial nerve canal: PFs may be responsible for progressive rubella deafness, and for some cases of migraine, epilepsy, anxiety neurosis and hysteria: psychiatric sequelae of the PF syndrome predominate in the post-concussional syndrome and infantile autism: organisms can pass from the throat into the spinal fluid, causing meningitis or encephalitis. The tinnitus and vertigo are caused by random labyrinthine fluid movements, the headache and diplopia by reduced spinal fluid pressure.