Audiological evaluation of twenty patients receiving pentoxifylline and prednisone after sudden deafness: prospective study.

Idiopathic sudden deafness is defined as sudden sensorineural hearing loss of undetermined etiology. As a consequence, various treatments have been developed for this disorder. Our study evaluated the effectiveness of pentoxifylline and prednisone in such treatment. We analyzed this treatment's results in our patients through conventional audiograms, and speech audiometry was performed in the acute stage and during the treatment. We diagnosed idiopathic sudden hearing loss in 20 patients (8 female and 12 male). The left ear was involved in 9 patients and the right in 11. All patients had been examined by us within 15 days from the onset of hearing loss. We compared the hearing threshold results in the different periods in this prospective study.