[Treatment of tinnitus with lidocaine? A report of clinical experiences].

The efficacy of intravenous lidocaine therapy in patients suffering from severe tinnitus aurium has been reported for many years although pharmacological mechanisms for its use are not fully understood. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of lidocaine therapy in the treatment of tinnitus we performed a retrospective study on 77 patients suffering from tinnitus. All patients were given a test dose of lidocaine after a saline placebo infusion. Suppression of tinnitus was classified according to a visual analogue scale. Our results showed that 19 of the 77 patients investigated experienced different degrees of reduced tinnitus. Fourteen of these latter patients also were treated with oral tocainide 3 x 400 mg/day. Treatment was stopped in 13 of the patients because of side-effects or an insufficient effect on tinnitus. Our findings suggest that lidocaine and tocainide do not have a significant role in pharmacological treatment of tinnitus except in certain cases of long-standing severe tinnitus.