Abstract
Literature reports in Japan dealing with the effects of medical treatments for sudden sensorineural deafness (SSD) published between 1989 and 2006 were reviewed.
The review revealed that over the 18-year period, there have been no remarkable improvements in the results of medical treatments for SSD. The total number of patients included in the review was 9282. The reported results of medical treatments are as follows, cure 33.2%, remarkable recovery 25.9%, recovery 22.4%, and no change 18.5%.
The relation between the number of patients examined in each of the reports and the obtained cure rates were also investigated. The differences in the obtained cure rates became larger as the total number of patients examined decreased. In the reports in which more than 200 patients were examined, the obtained cure rates were almost the same (around 30%).
There were no differences in the medical treatments adopted among the papers. These findings suggest that the differences in the reported cure rates for SSD are not likely to be related to the medical treatments and are more likely to be due to sponteneous resolution. Before starting medical treatment for SSD, adequate information about SSD should be given to the patients; it should be emphasized that there are no clinical treatments yet that are adequately effective for SSD.
