10 years of experience with intratympanally applied streptomycin (gentamycin) in the therapy of Morbus Menière.

During the last 10 years a total of 83 patients with severe cases of unilateral Morbus Menière were treated in our clinic. The proposed therapy was to administer streptomycin (gentamycinsulfate) intratympanically by applying two different ways of procedure. In the first group of 40 patients we attempted to destroy the vestibular organ without harming the cochlea whereby we avoided surgical intervention. In the second group of 43 patients we integrated more recent findings in the pathophysiological mechanism underlying the pathogenesis of Morbus Menière into our therapeutic considerations and attempted to exclusively destroy the secretorial epithelium with minimal dosages of aminoclycoside antibiotics. The results after treatment were clearly better for the second group of patients.