De Fontcuberta Pedro, Vandenhende Marie-Anne, Laux Miranda, Tourbier Benjamin, Paz Rafael, Bonnet Fabrice, Meriglier Etienne
Service de médecine interne et post-urgences, hôpital Pellegrin, CHU de Bordeaux, hôpital Pellegrin, place Amélie Raba Léon, 33000 Bordeaux, France.
Service de médecine interne et post-urgences, hôpital Pellegrin, CHU de Bordeaux, hôpital Pellegrin, place Amélie Raba Léon, 33000 Bordeaux, France; Université de Bordeaux, Talence, France.
Rev Med Interne. 2023 Jan;44(1):31-34. doi: 10.1016/j.revmed.2022.05.008. Epub 2022 Jun 22.
Hearing loss is a rare manifestation in giant cell arteritis. The different types of deafness are possible with a predominance of sensorineural deafness.
We report a 75-year-old woman who presented with typical manifestations of giant cell arteritis associated concomitantly with the occurrence of bilateral mixed hearing loss confirmed on the audiogram. Corticosteroids allowed a rapidly favorable clinical and biological outcome. The follow-up audiogram at 3 months was markedly improved and showed a decrease in sensorineural hearing loss and disappearance of conductive hearing loss.
Any rapid onset deafness in an inflammatory context in the elderly should lead to a search for giant cell arteritis. The diagnosis can be difficult in the absence of other typical manifestations, especially since the biopsy of the temporal artery most often comes back negative. Corticosteroids are usually effective.
