autoimmune inner ear disease


autoimmune inner ear disease

an immune-mediated disease of the inner ear characterized by hearing loss, tinnitus, and vertigo. Synonym(s): immune-mediated inner ear disease

autoimmune sensorineural hearing loss

A condition characterised by idiopathic, rapidly progressive, bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, which improves with corticosteroids and immunosuppressants. It is more common in women age 20 to 50.
Clinical findings
Bilateral sensorineural hearing loss which develops over weeks to months, with fluctuating symptoms, reduction in speech discrimination scores; vestibular symptoms occur in half of patients, and include disequilibrium, ataxia, motion intolerance, positional vertigo, and episodic vertigo; up to half of patients complain of tinnitus and aural fullness, and up to one-third have systemic autoimmune disease—e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, systemic lupus erythematosus and polyarteritis nodosa.