Treatment of subjective tinnitus: a comparative clinical study of intratympanic steroid injection vs. oral carbamazepine.

BACKGROUND: Over the last decade, more and more otologists have been using the intratympanic perfusion of steroids to treat SSHL, tinnitus, and vertigo. However, results of the treatment in the literature are controversial because most of the reports were retrospective and uncontrolled. Therefore a prospective random single-blind trial was conducted at the Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, P. R. China. The results were compared with oral carbamazepine treatment. Carbamazepine is a medication routinely used to treat tinnitus. MATERIAL/METHODS: Seventy-nine patients (84 ears) with subjective tinnitus which failed to respond to a minimum of four-week systemic medical therapy were assigned to a study group and a control group by a random, single-blind method. The study group was further randomly divided into two subgroups. The participants in the study group received either 0.5-ml intratympanic injections of prednisolone (study group 1) or dexamethasone (study group 2). The patients in the control group only took carbamazepine. The effective rates at the end of the therapy and the control rates at the end of a six-month follow-up were analyzed statistically. RESULTS: There were no statistical differences in the effective and control rates among the three groups. CONCLUSIONS: Intratympanic steroid injection has positive effects similar to those of oral carbamazepine in subjective tinnitus. Intratympanic steroid injection may be considered an alternative treatment for subjective tinnitus.