A case of hearing improvement following treatment for congenital cytomegalovirus infection-induced delayed hearing loss

Abstract

We report the case of a hearing loss improvement after treatment in a patient with asymptomatic cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. The patient was diagnosed early with delayed hearing loss by a simple hearing test using automatic auditory brainstem response (AABR) monitoring. The patient was a 2-year-old male infant. A CMV-DNA qualitative test using urine at birth revealed 1,320 copies/μl; however, AABR results were PASS bilaterally. In subsequent AABR evaluations at 3 months of age, the left side showed Refer, and at 119 days of age, the right and left sides ABR threshold were 50 dBnHL and 70 dBnHL, respectively. The ABR evaluation performed 24 days after the administration of 16 mg/kg/dose of valganciclovir hydrochloride (VGCV)—which was initiated from the age of 123 days—revealed 30 dBnHL on the right side and 40 dBnHL on the left side, thus showing a rapid improvement. The hearing of the patient is still normal to date. Early diagnosis and treatment were useful for improving delayed hearing loss caused by congenital CMV.