Objective: To investigate if methylprednisolone intratympanic membrane injection (IT) as a salvage treatment gave an additional hearing improvement in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss [ISSNHL].

Material and Methods: A retrospective medical chart review of 167 patients diagnosed as ISSNHL with onset of hearing loss prior to methylprednisolone IT 30 days or less. Patients, who did not response to 1-week course of high dose oral steroid, were given 4 times of methylprednisolone IT within 1 week. Data were analyzed to compare hearing improvement.

Results: There were 167 patients with ISSHNL included in the present study, 63 (37.7%) males and 104 (62.3%) females. Age range was 14 - 87 years old (median 52, mean±SD: 51.56±14.51). Median onset of ISSNHL before starting methylprednisolone IT was 8 days (mean±SD; 13.42±12.62 days) and mean of initial PTA of pathological ears were 70.96±26.54 dB. Methylprednisolone IT provided improvement in hearing 25.1% with statistical significance (p<0.001) after 30 days of treatment. The common side effects were pain and vertigo. Twelve patients (7.18%) had tympanic membrane perforation, but there was no serious adverse effect.

Conclusion: Methylprednisolone IT is an effective salvage treatment in ISSNHL and could be considered as a primary treatment for patients

Keywords: Sudden hearing loss, sudden sensorineural hearing loss, Intratympanic steroid, Intratympanic injection