Perilymphatic fistula and Meniere's disease. Clinical series and literature review.

There continues to be considerable confusion concerning the diagnosis and treatment of perilymphatic fistulas (PLFs) and Meniere's disease. This paper reports an 8-year experience with patients whose symptoms were compatible with Meniere's disease but who had some other element that raised the possibility of their having a PLF. This review is a retrospective report on 64 patients who had fluctuating hearing loss, vertigo, tinnitus, and aural fullness typical of Meniere's disease. However, they also had a positive fistula test and/or symptoms beginning immediately after head trauma. They all underwent at least a unilateral PLF repair, and some also underwent an endolymphatic sac-mastoid shunt operation. This report provides a literature review to help put this series' results into perspective. Of those 40 patients who underwent an initial PLF repair, 58% had a successful outcome. Of the 10 patients who underwent an initial PLF repair plus an endolymphatic sac-mastoid shunt, 70% had a successful outcome. Since it is often difficult to distinguish patients with PLFs and secondary endolymphatic hydrops (Meniere's syndrome) from patients with Meniere's disease (idiopathic endolymphatic hydrops), PLF repair is a reasonable first operation, reserving an endolymphatic sac-mastoid shunt operation as a secondary procedure if needed. The decision to consider a PLF repair is guided by a positive fistula test or an immediate onset of Meniere's disease symptom complex after head or ear trauma.