Abstract
Two hundred and thirty patients suffering from vertigo and/or tinnitus and neural deafness due to cerebrovascular disease, Ménière's disease, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, etc., were treated with bifemerane hydrochloride (Celeport®) in the otorhinolaryngological departments of 17 hospitals in Kanagawa prefecture. A dose of 150mg/day was given for eight weeks to each patient in this open trial. The efficacy of the drug was: 7.8% marked improvement, 36.9% marked or moderate improvement, and 74.7% more than slight improvement. Only 4 patients (1.7%) complained of side effects: indigestion, nausea or dizziness.
It is concluded that this drug is useful in the treatment of vertigo of both central and peripheral vestibular origin. Bifemerane hydrochloride seems to activate brain metabolism rather than improve brain circulation. The pharmacological effects in improving ischemic brain disturbances and inhibiting the decrease of several important neurochemical mediators in the brain, such as norepinephrine, serotonin, glutamate and glutamate bindings have been reported in the literature. The metabolic and circulatory actions of this chemical in both the vestibular and auditory systems, including the inner ear, need further investigation.
