Systemic lupus erythematosus with sensorineural hearing loss and improvement after plasmapheresis using the double filtration method.

A 32-year-old female was diagnosed as having systemic lupus erythematosus based on her laboratory tests. In 1985 she began to complain of hearing difficulty. Her hearing ability deteriorated to the extent that her audiogram revealed a hearing loss of 90 db to 110 db in both ears in September 1989. She received two series of plasmapheresis treatments using the double filtration method. After two series of plasmapheresis treatments, her hearing improved dramatically. This improvement suggests that circulating immune complexes and anti-phospholipid antibodies might play a pathological role in the hearing impairment in SLE patient.