Systemic hyperbaric oxygen therapy for the treatment of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss

This information brief deals with the use of systemic hyperbaric oxygen therapy (s-HBOT) for the treatment of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSHL). It is a literature review that focuses mainly on the efficacy of this treatment and is in reply to a request from the Hyperbaric Medicine Unit of the Centre de santé et de services sociaux Alphonse-Desjardins (Centre hospitalier affilié universitaire Hôtel-Dieu de Lévis).

Various recent publications were selected as sources of scientific data. An analysis of these publications shows that the efficacy of s-HBOT in the treatment of ISSHL remains uncertain, for the following reasons:

• The authors of the systematic review that was selected repeated their previous conclusions, which state that the clinical significance of the study results is not clear;

• The number of original studies reporting unfavourable results is more or less the same as the number of studies in favour of this treatment; and

• The methodologies used in both the studies that were examined in the systematic review and the original studies that were selected were heterogeneous and flawed, and the sample sizes were small.

However, research concerning the effecacy of S-HBOT for the treatment of ISSHL is ongoing and INESSS will be monitoring the resulting data.