Choung Y H, Park K, Kim C H, Kim H J, Kim K
Department of Otolaryngology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
J Laryngol Otol. 2006 Apr;120(4):343-52. doi: 10.1017/S0022215106000569.
Classical Ménière's disease is rarely found in children and literature regarding it is scarce. In general, the frequency of Ménière's disease in children is only 0.4-7.0 per cent of that in adults. The progression pattern of Ménière's disease in children is not known well. Here, we report three cases of Ménière's disease in children less than 15 years old, treated over nine years. The three cases comprise 14- and 13-year-old boys and a nine-year-old girl. Two of the three patients initially complained only of recurrent bouts of vertigo, without any tinnitus, ear fullness or hearing impairment. In all three cases, the early pure tone audiograms showed only high tone frequency loss, regardless of subjective hearing loss, and the decrease in the hearing threshold was observed one to eight years after the dizziness attacks began. The hearing threshold was usually decreased to a level of mild or moderate hearing impairment. After diuretic treatment, vertigo was generally well controlled, and some cases showed improvement in hearing. Of the total number of patients with Ménière's disease who visited our department over nine years, 2.6 per cent (3/114) were children, and the overall incidence of Ménière's disease in children with vertigo was 2.0 per cent (3/147). In conclusion, Ménière's disease in children rarely develops and may have characteristics of high tone loss in initial audiograms.
经典梅尼埃病在儿童中罕见，相关文献也很匮乏。一般来说，儿童梅尼埃病的发病率仅为成人的0.4%-7.0%。儿童梅尼埃病的进展模式尚不清楚。在此，我们报告3例15岁以下儿童梅尼埃病病例，治疗时间超过9年。这3例病例包括一名14岁和一名13岁的男孩以及一名9岁的女孩。3例患者中有2例最初仅主诉反复眩晕发作，无耳鸣、耳闷或听力减退。在所有3例病例中，早期纯音听力图仅显示高频听力损失，与主观听力损失无关，且在眩晕发作开始1至8年后观察到听力阈值下降。听力阈值通常降至轻度或中度听力减退水平。利尿剂治疗后，眩晕一般得到良好控制，部分病例听力有所改善。在9年期间到我们科室就诊的梅尼埃病患者总数中，2.6%（3/114）为儿童，眩晕儿童中梅尼埃病的总体发病率为2.0%（3/147）。总之，儿童梅尼埃病很少发生，初始听力图可能具有高频听力损失的特点。
