[Drug therapy of acute inner ear hearing loss in childhood and adolescence].

Sensorineural hearing loss in early childhood may severely interfere with normal speech and language development. This by itself requires pursuit of an effective therapeutic procedure. Here we report the results of therapy with a rheological agent and procaine-HCl with or without the addition of steroids. Immunological testing was also studied for possible circulating antibodies in sera of affected children. Retrospective analysis of therapeutic results showed that the therapeutic procedure employed may be beneficial, since hearing improved considerably in some cases. Since an autoimmune-related sensorineural hearing loss has been postulated for some years, results presented here could be used as an argument for the presence of antibody-related inner ear disorders in early childhood. These findings suggest that circulating antibodies in children suffering from sensorineural hearing losses produce an inflammatory process involving inner ear structures. Circulating antibodies may also indicate a secondary immune reaction. However, sensory hearing loss occurring in early childhood may be steroid sensitive.