2018 Volume 61 Issue 4 Pages 209-215
Recently, the number of patients with syphilis has been increasing. Hearing loss, dizziness, facial palsy, etc., are some of the common symptoms treated by otorhinolaryngologists, and in a proportion of patients, these symptoms are caused by syphilis, so-called otosyphilis. We recently encountered 3 patients of otosyphilis. All presented with deafness as an early symptom. We suspected otosyphilis from the results of blood testing, and confirmed the diagnosis by cerebrospinal fluid examination. We treated all the patients with a steroid and penicillin, and obtained good recovery. With the increase in the incidence of syphilis, we can expect an increase also in the number of patients with otosyphilis. Early diagnosis and early treatment are important for satisfactory recovery from hearing loss. It is important to bear in mind the possibility of otosyphilis in the differential diagnosis of patients presenting with hearing loss.
