[Research progress of vascular pulsatile tinnitus].

Pulsatile tinnitus (PT) is relatively rare, which accounts for approximately 4% of patients with tinnitus. It originates from mostly vascular structures within the cranial cavity, head and neck region or thoracic cavity, and is transmitted to the cochlear by bony or vascular structures and the blood flow, stimulating patient's hearing. It can be the patient's subjective feelings, there can be objective performance.Vascular PT is more common than non-vascular PT. Vascular PT can be further classified by vessel of origin as arterial and venous ones, and the latter is more commonly seen clinically.It's rhythm is synchronous with patients' pulse, and its tinnitus frequency is less than 600 Hz. The cause of pulsatile tinnitus is complex and diverse, and 56 cases are reported in the literature. Objective tinnitus or somatosensory, associated with tympanic membrane myoclonus, ear blood flow changes adjacent to blood vessels and other in vivo factors. While subjective tinnitus lacks a clear source of the body. PT's pathogenesis has not been fully understood yet, so intensive study targeting PT is of great importance. This review focuses on the pathophysiological mechanisms,etiology,clinical manifestation, diagnosis and progress of treatment of vascular PT.