Short-term audiologic effect of intratympanic gadolinium contrast agent application in patients with Meniere's disease

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess whether gadolinium-based contrast agent influences short-term hearing function in patients with Meniere's disease undergoing intratympanically enhanced inner-ear magnetic resonance imaging. Design: This is a prospective cohort study. Setting: This study was conducted a tertiary referral university hospital, ENT department. Participants: In this study, 21 adult patients with definite, unilateral Meniere's disease were included. According to the criteria of the Committee on Hearing and Equilibrium, all patients were in stage I or 2 of the disease, with largely preserved hearing function. Outcomes: All patients underwent clinical and audiologic testing before and 24 hours after intratympanic application of gadolinium-based contrast agent. The effects of the contrast medium on the hearing function were assessed by analysis of frequency thresholds, pure-tone average from 500 Hz to 3 kHz, and speech audiometry. Results: Pure-tone average and single-frequency thresholds in audiometry showed no statistically significant difference after the application of intratympanic gadolinium-based contrast agent. Furthermore, speech audiometry scores remained stable after the application of the contrast agent. Conclusions: This study did not demonstrate clinically significant short-term effects of intratympanic application of gadolinium-based contrast agent on hearing function in patients with Meniere's disease in initial stages. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.