New Treatments for Meniere's Disease
Timothy C. Hain, MD •
Page last modified:
March 30, 2021
In general, it is best to be very skeptical about new treatments for Meniere's.
Because the disease fluctuates, very large numbers are needed to prove that
a treatment is effective. In other words, one can easily by chance have a sequence
of patients who do well on any particular regimen, medication or device, which is actually
a placebo. There are many Meniere's treatments which are probably placebos. Considerable data supporting the placebo idea has been put forth by Torok
(1977) and Ruckenstein (Ruckenstein et al. 1991). There is very little evidence
that any currently available treatment, whether it be medical or surgical, changes
hearing. (Am J Otol
18:67-73, 1997) There is good evidence, though, that certain destructive treatments (such as gentamicin) alleviate dizziness. Comments
are in italics.
References:
- Adunka, O., E. Moustaklis, et al. (2003). "Labyrinth Anesthesia - A Forgotten
but Practical Treatment Option in Meniere's Disease." ORL J Otorhinolaryngol
Relat Spec 65(2): 84-90.
- Attanasio G, Califano L Bruno A3, Giugliano V, Ralli M, Martellucci S, Milella C, de Vincentiis M Russo FY6, Greco A.Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency and meni?re's disease: Interventional versus medical therapy. Laryngoscope. 2019 Nov 11. doi: 10.1002/lary.28389. [Epub ahead of print]
- Degerman, E., et al. (2017). "Inhibition of phosphodiesterase 3, 4, and 5 induces endolymphatic hydrops in mouse inner ear, as evaluated with repeated 9.4T MRI." Acta Otolaryngol 137(1): 8-15.
- Gacek RR. . Recovery of Hearing in Meniere's Disease after Antiviral Treatment. .Am J Otolaryngol. 2015 May-Jun;36(3):315-23. doi: 10.1016/j.amjoto.2014.03.016. Epub 2014 Apr 5
- Gates GA and others. The effects of transtympanic micropressure treatment
in people with unilateral Meniere's disease. Arch Otol HNS 2004:130;718-725
- Leong AC, Pothier DD, Rutka JA.Oral Mycostatin as a possible alternative treatment for intractable Ménière's disease: preliminary cohort study. J Laryngol Otol. 2014 Mar 19:1-2. [Epub ahead of print]
- Louza JP, Flatz W, Krause E, Gürkov R.Short-term audiologic effect of intratympanic gadolinium contrast agent application in patients with Ménière disease. Am J Otolaryngol. 2012 Feb 6. [Epub ahead of print]
- Naganuma H, Kawahara K, Tokumasu K, Okamoto M. Laryngoscope.Water may cure patients with meniere disease. 2006 Aug;116(8):1455-60.
- Neely, J. G. and R. A. Nelson (1994). "Orally ingested nystatin powder in water for the stabilization of hearing in patients with fluctuating hearing loss." Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 111(1): 1.
- Quatre R, Attyé A, Karkas A, Job A, Dumas G, Schmerber S. Ear Hear. 2018 Apr 25. doi: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000000584. [Epub ahead of print] Relationship Between Audio-Vestibular Functional Tests and Inner Ear MRI in Meniere's Disease
- Rask-Andersen et al. Effects of intratympanic injection of latanoprost in Meniere's disease: a randomized placebo-controlled, double-blind, pilot study. Otol HNS 2005, 133, 441-443
- Ruckenstein MJ, Rutka JA and Hawke M (1991). "The treatment of Meniere's
disease: Torok revisited." Laryngoscope 101(2): 211-8.
- Saliba, I., et al. (2015). "Endolymphatic Duct Blockage: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Novel Surgical Technique for Meniere's Disease Treatment." Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 152(1): 122-129.
- Torok N (1977). "Old and new in Meniere disease." Laryngoscope 87(11): 1870-7.
- van Esch, B. F., et al. (2017). "The Effect of Vestibular Rehabilitation in Patients with Meniere's Disease." Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 156(3): 426-434.
- Zhang D, Fan Z, Han Y, Lv Y, Li Y, Wang H.Triple semicircular canal plugging: a novel modality for the treatment of intractable Meniere's disease.Acta Otolaryngol. 2016 Jul 19:1-6. [Epub ahead of print]
References concerning middle ear tenotomy
- Albu, S., et al. (2015). "Endolymphatic sac surgery versus tenotomy of the stapedius and tensor tympani muscles in the management of patients with unilateral definite Meniere's disease." Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 272(12): 3645-3650.
- De Valck, C. F., et al. (2009). "Tenotomy of the tensor tympani and stapedius tendons in Meniere's disease." B-ENT 5(1): 1-6.
- Franz, P., et al. (2003). "Do middle ear muscles trigger attacks of Meniere's disease?" Acta Otolaryngol 123(2): 133-137.