Transcript of video:
For patients with sudden hearing loss or patients with Meniere’s disease with fluctuating hearing and episodes of vertigo, middle ear perfusion or inner ear perfusion is a very useful tool.
We will perfuse the ear by placing either steroids or an antibiotic that attacks the inner ear called Gentamycin. In this technique, in the office, we look through the ear canal and put a little drop of numbing medicine on the eardrum itself. Once that area is numb, we place a tiny little needle through the eardrum to fill the middle ear with either steroid or Gentamycin antibiotic. It turns out there are two little windows, the round window, and the oval window, and this treatment medicine, either steroid or antibiotic, will slowly percolate its way into the inner ear.
Overall, a third of people get all of their hearing back, a third of people get some of their hearing back, and unfortunately, a third of people get none of their hearing back. While inner ear perfusion is very effective, like any medical procedure, we always mention risks, but fortunately, these are incredibly rare. Because we’re going through the eardrum, we mention the risk of infection or the chance of the hole not healing, or the chance that you could have a reaction to the medication itself. Fortunately, this has been a very safe procedure and the chance of those complications is very, very low.
