Can we use electrocochleography as a clinical tool in the diagnosis of Meniere's disease during the early symptomatic period?

CONCLUSION

Our results indicate that electrocochleography (ECoG) has limited value in diagnosing Meniere's disease during the early symptomatic period.

OBJECTIVE

We hypothesized that if endolymphatic hydrops is a cause of Meniere's disease, ECoG results obtained in normal subjects would differ from those obtained during the early symptomatic period of Meniere's disease. We aimed to investigate the usefulness of ECoG in the diagnosis of Meniere's disease during the early symptomatic period.

METHODS

Extratympanic ECoG was used to evaluate 60 patients in a Meniere's group (17 men, 43 women; mean age 43.6 years, range 19-62 years) and 30 controls (11 men, 19 women; mean age 43.5 years, range 21-63 years). The summating potential/action potential (SP/AP) amplitude ratio and SP/AP area ratio were compared between the groups.

RESULTS

Statistically significant differences were not demonstrated in the SP/AP amplitude ratio between the definite Meniere's, probable Meniere's, overall Meniere's, or control groups (0.35 ± 0.02, 0.30 ± 0.03, 0.33 ± 0.02, and 0.30 ± 0.01, respectively). Additionally, statistically significant differences were not indicated in the mean SP/AP area ratio between the definite Meniere's, probable Meniere's, overall Meniere's, or control groups (5.18 ± 0.98, 4.78 ± 0.21, 4.01 ± 0.78, and 3.72 ± 0.66, respectively).