Efficacy of Prednisone in Therapy of War-related Blast Injury of Inner Ear

Abstract

Aim: To establish whether a better recovery of sensorineural hearing loss can be achieved by a prednisone therapy immediately after a blast injury. Patients and Methods: Retrospective study included 115 patients with 183 inner ear damages with sensorineural hearing losses subsequent to a blast injury. A group of 67 patients (107 ears) received 20 mg prednisone during first seven days and 10 mg prednisone during next seven days. Forty-eight patients (76 ears) in the control group did not receive any therapy. Results: Although both groups achieved a significant improvement in hearing threshold when compared to the initial hearing loss (p<0.001), the patients who received prednisone demonstrated a significantly better hearing recovery when compared to those who did not receive any therapy (p=0.002). The initial and final sensorineural hearing loss value did not correlate neither to the steroid group nor to the control group. Conclusions: A steroid therapy significantly improves the recovery of sensorineural hearing loss caused by an inner ear blast injury. The initial value of sensorineural hearing loss cannot be used as a prediction for the final value of sensorineural hearing loss neither in a steroid treatment nor in a spontaneous recovery.

Keywords

• ear
• inner – injuries; blast injuries – complications; hearing loss
• sensorineural – drug therapy