Abstract
OBJECTIVE To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of coenzyme Q10 added to systemic steroid in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss. DESIGN A controlled prospective study. SETTING Asan medical center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine. PARTICIPANTS Between August 2007 and October 2008, the first 60 patients diagnosed with sudden sensorineural hearing loss were managed with systemic steroid treatment for 2 weeks including 5-day hospitalisation. And the second 60 patients were managed with coenzyme Q10 for 2 weeks added to previous management. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES We evaluated auditory function by pure tone audiometry and speech discrimination score. Auditory evaluations were performed before and 3 months after treatment using Siegel's criteria. The degree of improvement in four-tone average hearing and speech discrimination score was calculated from the results before and after treatment. RESULTS The total hearing improvement rate after the treatment was 75.0% (90/120 patients) in this study. Although 47 patients (78.3%) of coenzyme Q10 group showed better hearing improvement than 43 patients (71.7%) of control group, there was no significant difference. However, the coenzyme Q10 group showed significantly higher improvement in speech discrimination score. CONCLUSION From this study, we suggest that coenzyme Q10 may have beneficial effects in the treatment of sudden sensorineural hearing loss.
