Abstract
A rare case of simultaneous bilateral sudden deafness in a 58-year-old female with diabetes mellitus is presented.
She visited Hokusetsu General Hospital with complaints of sudden bilateral hearing disturbances and right tinnitus. She had had poorly controlled diabetes mellitus three years. Several treatments, including medications for diabetes mellitus led to for very good recovery of hearing improvement in the right ear, but only slight improvement in the left ear.
Our experience with this case and a review of the literature indicate that in sudden deafness secondary to diabetes mellitus there are various etiologic mechanisms, such as metabolic dysfunction of the stria vascularis, changes of endolymphatic osmotic pressure, sludging of blood cells, vasospasm and abnormalities of the vessels in the cochlea.
Further clinical and experimental studies are needed to elucidate the pathophysiology of sudden hearing impairment in patients with diabetes mellitus.
