Surgical treatment of Menière's disease.

Surgical treatment is used only for patients with Menière's disease in cases that do not respond to medical therapy. At the present time, the endolymphatic sac shunt operation is performed in cases where the auditory threshold is fluctuant around 30 dB. When the auditory threshold is between 40 and 70 dB we use the vestibular neurectomy by the retrosigmoid approach. In patients with Menière's disease with profound hearing loss the translabyrinthine neurectomy is used. The advantages of the vestibular neurectomy by the retrosigmoid approach compared to the retrolabyrinthine and middle fossa approaches will be described.