Abstract
The pure tone threshold (PTT) changes in 13 patients with surgically identified perilymph fistula from the round window were compared with those in 7 patients suspected of having a perilymph fistula.
The changes of the PTT after the first audiometry were quite different from the patients with surgically dientified fistula and those with suspected fistula. The PTT in the patients received surgery showed severe hearing loss and exhibited only slight changes until the surgery. Whereas the PTT in the patients without surgery improved quite rapidly after they have received conservative treatments.
The prognosis of the hearing acuity was clearly better in the patients who received surgery shortly after the onset of the disease. The elevation of the hearing acuity in the patients with good prognosis of the hearing was started approximately from the 10 days to 2 weeks after the surgery. After one month of the surgery, the PTT showed relatively stable values.
Thus, when a patient who suspected having a perilymph fistula shows no or only slight improvement of the PTT, in spite of receiving conservative treatments, the surgical procedure should be chosen immediately.
