1971 Volume 23 Issue 4 Pages 537-543
84 patients (100 ears) with sudden deafness, other neural deafness, tinnitus, or unidentified discomforts in the head were treated with the stellate ganglion block.
The treatment was effective in 80% of the sudden deafness cases. This result is in conformity with the general belief that the stellate ganglion block has a remarkable effect on sudden deafness. Even with the other neural deafness cases, for which no treatment has been believed available, we could get the efficacy rate of 12.2%. As for the tinnitus cases the rate was 69.5%. Generally we can expect a good result when remission is observed after the first or second treatment.
Our study shows that the stellate ganglion block is a very effective method that should be tried in the case of nerve disturbances in the field of otolaryngology. It is true that this treatment method is sometimes accompanied by side effects such as shocks, palpitation with cold perspiration, etc., even if we take enough care. They are, however, of a very slight kind, and we need not worry about them when an oxigen inhaler and other emergency measures are prepared. Therefore, it is highly desirable for every otolaryngologist to become skillful with this technique.
The working mechanism of the stellate ganglion block cannot be explained by the improvement of blood circulation alone. Clarification of the mechanism is a subject for the future studies.
