Glucocorticoid and Breviscapine Combination Therapy Versus Glucocorticoid Alone on Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss in Patients with Different Audiometric Curves.

INTRODUCTION

We aimed to retrospectively analyze the therapeutic outcomes of using glucocorticoid combined with a vasodilator, breviscapine, versus glucocorticoid alone in patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) and to explore the impact on different audiometric curves.

METHODS

Data from 154 patients were collected between January 2017 and December 2018. Patients received treatments of either glucocorticoid combined with breviscapine (GC + Bre) or glucocorticoid alone (GC). These two groups were stratified into low frequencies SSNHL (LF-SSNHL), high frequencies SSNHL (HF-SSNHL), all frequencies SSNHL (AF-SSNHL), and total deafness SSNHL (TD-SSNHL) subgroups according to their corresponding audiograms. The hearing level was evaluated by pure tone audiometry, and hearing recovery was calculated by comparing the pure tone average (PTA) at pretreatment and 4 weeks after therapy.

RESULTS

Hearing recovery was significantly greater for GC + Bre than GC-only treatment in the AF-SSNHL and TD-SSNHL subgroups (P < 0.05) and to a lesser extent in the LF-SSNHL and HF-SSNHL subgroups (P > 0.05). Logistic regression analysis also showed a favorable outcome for SSNHL in the GC + Bre group (odds ratio 2.848, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Treating SSNHL using glucocorticoid combined with breviscapine could be more beneficial than using glucocorticoid alone, especially for patients with AF-SSNHL and TD-SSNHL.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

ChiCTR18000170072.