Histopathologic Findings of the Temporal Bone in a Patient with Renal Failure Treated with Haemodialysis

Abstract

A 49-year-old man was diagnosed as glomerulonephritis in 1962. The patient underwent haemodialysis 23 times until 1971. On 19 October 1971, the patient came to the Tokyo Metropolitan Okubo Hospital, and on the examination, there was no abnormal findings in the ear drum, x-ray film of the temporal bone, and on the vestibular functional test. Audiogram revealed perceptive deafness, gradual threshold shift in the higher frequency range. On 20 October, 1971 the patient admitted to the hospital for recieving haemodialysis. The patient was discharged from the hospital after 21 times haemodialysis. Thereafter, haemodialysis was carried out 40 times until the death on 19 May, 1972. Before the death, hypertension, increase in serum K-concentration, rapid increase in body weight due to edema, and decrease in body weight due to haemodialysis were noted.
Histopathological examination of the temporal bone revealed mild fibrous thickening of the mucous membrane of the tympanic cavity, cord-like fibrous tissue around the round window niche loss of the outer hair cell confined to the basal end of the organ of Corti, and morphologic evidence of hydrops of the cochlear duct resulting in collapse of the organ of Corti. There was no remarkable change in the stria vascularis and spiral ganglion.