Clinical usefulness of electrocochleography in Meniere's disease: an analysis of dehydrating agents.

Both electrocochleography and glycerol dehydration have an important diagnostic and prognostic role in the management of patients with endolymphatic hydrops, whether idiopathic as in Meniere's disease or secondary to certain diseases of the otic capsule. Abnormal electrocochleographic responses in a "normal" ear can be used to predict when Meniere's disease will become bilateral. There is a significant correlation between the effects of glycerol and of endolymphatic sac surgery on the pars inferior, at least over the span of several years. The subject hearing gains, the objective improvements in electrocochleographic responses, and the objective evidence of diminished inner ear impedance, all following proven glycerol dehydration, indicate that even in fairly advanced Meniere's disease, but especially in the earlier stages, reversibility is possible. This is a tantalizing therapeutic challenge.