RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the role for prestin and otolin-1 as biomarkers for differentiating Meniere's disease (MD) from vestibular migraine (VM). STUDY DESIGN: It is a cross-sectional, cohort study. RESULTS: There were 19 MD and 11 VM patients. In the 19 MD patients, the mean prestin level was 2.33 ng/ml compared to 0.64 ng/ml in VM patients (p = 0.238). Otolin-1 levels in MD patients were 109.67 pg/ml, while in VM patients, otolin-1 levels were 30.9 pg/ml (p = 0.102). In MD patients, prestin levels were correlated with word recognition scores, being strongest when prestin >2 ng/ml (rho = 0.9; p = 0.019). CONCLUSIONS: Prestin and otolin-1 levels differed between MD patients relative to VM patients. The relationship between prestin and word recognition scores in MD suggests that there may be a role for prestin as a marker for inner ear function, but its role in differentiating MD from VM remains to be elucidated.