Treatment of Meniere's disease by Multi-session Dexamethasone Injections.

BACKGROUND: Meniere's Disease (MD) is a complex and multifactorial inner ear problem characterized by episodic vertigo, unilateral sensori-neural hearing loss and tinnitus or fullness in the ear due to Endolymphatic hydrops. There are multiple treatment options available for this disease; from which cortisone therapy can be given in different routes and in different doses.

OBJECTIVES: is to identify the successfulness of treatment of MD by multi-session intra-tympanic dexamethasone injection compared to the single-session method.

METHOD: Interventional prospective study of study 70 cases of definite MD treated by 4 sessions of intra-tympanic injection weekly and compared to a control group of 66 cases of age matched patients with definite MD treated by the traditional single intra-tympanic injection. Patients In the study and the control group were observed for 6 months after the treatment for the development of any vertiginous attacks.

RESULTS: only 3 patients in the study group and 30 patients in the control group failed to respond to treatment and developed vertigo in the period of 6 months after treatment. The difference between the success rate in the two groups was statistically highly significant.

CONCLUSION: multi-session Intra-tympanic dexamethasone injection is superior to the single injection in control of vertigo in patients with definite MD.