INEGI, Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Porto, Portugal.
FEUP, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Int J Numer Method Biomed Eng. 2022 Jan;38(1):e3541. doi: 10.1002/cnm.3541. Epub 2021 Nov 3.
Ménière's disease is an inner ear disorder, associated with episodes of vertigo, fluctuant hearing loss, tinnitus, and aural fullness. Ménière's disease is associated with endolymphatic hydrops. Clinical evidences show that this disease is often incapacitating, negatively affecting the patients' everyday life. The pathogenesis of Ménière's disease is still not fully understood and remains unclear. Previous numerical studies available in the literature related with endolymphatic hydrops, are very scarce. The present work applies the finite element method to investigate the consequences of endolymphatic hydrops in the normal hearing, associated with the Ménière's disease. The obtained results for the steady state dynamics analysis are in accordance with clinical evidences. The results show that the basilar membrane is not affected in the same intensity along its length and that the lower frequencies are more affected by the endolymphatic hydrops. From a clinical point of view, this work shows the relationship between the increasing of the endolymphatic pressure and the development of hearing loss.
梅尼埃病是一种内耳疾病，与眩晕、波动性听力损失、耳鸣和耳闷有关。梅尼埃病与内淋巴积水有关。临床证据表明，这种疾病常常使人丧失能力，对患者的日常生活产生负面影响。梅尼埃病的发病机制尚未完全阐明，目前仍不清楚。目前文献中可获得的与内淋巴积水相关的数值研究非常有限。本工作应用有限元方法研究了梅尼埃病相关的内淋巴积水对正常听力的影响。稳态动力学分析得到的结果与临床证据一致。结果表明，基底膜在其长度上的受影响程度并不相同，而且低频段受内淋巴积水的影响更大。从临床角度来看，这项工作表明了内淋巴压力的增加与听力损失的发展之间的关系。
