Neurovascular compression and vestibular compromises in idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to investigate the association between vestibular impairment and neurovascular compression at cerebellopontine angle (CPA) and internal auditory canal (IAC) in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL).

METHODS

Seventy-one ISSNHL patients underwent audio-vestibular tests and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of CPA-IAC. The MRI findings of both ears were graded by Chavda, Gorrie and Kazawa systems.

RESULTS

No significant association was found between different neurovascular types and the results of caloric test, vestibular evoked myogenic potentials and video head impulse test (vHIT). Chavda type II was more common in ISSNHL patients with vertigo. Tinnitus, initial and outcome hearing threshold showed no significant differences among different neurovascular types. ISSNHL patients with Gorrie type C had worse hearing prognosis than those with type B. ISSNHL patients with pathological vHIT results in the posterior semicircular canal were more prone to poor hearing recovery.

CONCLUSIONS

Vestibular testing results and radiological neurovascular compression signs in CPA-IAC region may not be associated in ISSNHL patients. Vestibular impairment is more closely related to hearing outcomes than neurovascular compression.