1Wright State University, Dayton, OH, USA/2University of Cincinnati / Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Cincinnati, OH, USA

■ OBJECTIVES: To test the hypothesis that endolymphatic sac (ELS) surgery (decompression or mastoid shunting) for patients with Meniere’s disease is more effective in facilitating stabilization of hearing compared to patients treated medically.

■ METHODS: In a retrospective fashion, we reviewed the medical records of 40 patients diagnosed with Meniere’s disease. Twenty of these patients were treated with ELS procedures while the remaining twenty were treated medically. Data was gathered from two different audiograms per patient, one prior to the assigned intervention, and the other from a point in time after the intervention, to facilitate disclosure of treatment-specific change. Per the AAOHNS reporting criteria, pre-treatment audiograms were selected within 6 months prior to treatment; post-treatment audiograms were selected from 18 to 24 months after the intervention.

■ RESULTS: Of the 40 patients surveyed, 19 of the patients had right-sided disease, 19 had left sided disease, and 2 patients had bilateral disease. Fifty three percent of the patients were female; forty-seven percent were male. General trends set forth by the data gathered from the audiograms disclosed that, on average, ELS generated higher percentages of patients with improved pure tone averages than did medical treatment. Trends derived from audiogram disclosed greater percentages of improved speech reception threshold values as well as percent discrimination scores for patients treated with the surgical modality as opposed to strict medical regimens. In addition, in the subset of patients whose auditory status sustained negative outcomes, on average, medical management yielded greater deficits in pure tone averages than did surgery.

■ CONCLUSIONS: In our preliminary study, management of Meniere’s disease by ELS procedures is more likely to lead to hearing preservation than is medical management alone, at least in the shortterm. Additional study of all of our patients with Meniere’s disease is warranted to ascertain whether stabilization of hearing will also occur in the long-term.