The cause of delayed endolymphatic hydrops (DEH) has not been elucidated. Especially in contralateral DEH, it remains controversial whether the fluctuation of hearing loss and repetition of vertigo is due to hearing disturbance in the contralateral ear.
We diagnosed 8 patients as the ipsilateral type of DEH and 5 patients as the contralateral type. We investigated the clinical manifestations of DEH and the manner of occurrence of hearing loss and vertigo. With regard to preexisting severe hearing loss, the contralateral type of DEH differed only slightly from the ipsilateral type. The contralateral type showed repeated vertigo less frequently than the ipsilateral type. When occurrence was investigated in patients with the contralateral type, we supposed that it was possible for some cases diagnosed as the ipsilateral type to shift to the contralateral type. On serologic and immunologic examination, all of patients with the contralateral type showed antinuclear antibodies.
