Delayed Endolymphatic Hydrops (DEH)

Abstract

Delayed endolymphatic hydrops (DEH) is a disease entity that can be differentiated from Meniere's disease. This condition was first reported by Kamei, Nadol and Wolfson. Schuknecht classified DEH into three types, ipsilateral, contralateral and bilateral. We reported clinical features of 30 cases of DEH. Eleven cases were the ipsilateral type, 12 contralateral type and 7 bilateral type. In 12 cases, hearing loss was caused by sudden deafness. Other causes were juvenile unilateral hearing loss in 6 cases, mumpus in 3 cases, head trauma in 1 case and unknown in 8 cases. The most common clinical picture was fluctuating hearing loss (45% ipsilateral type, 100% contralateral type, 100% bilateral). The latency between early history and late history ranged from 3 months to 66 years and averaged 13.3 years. In the cases of sudden deafness, the latency was short (average 5.3 years), but in juvenile unilateral hearing loss, the latency was much longer (average 35.8 years). © 1995, The Society of Practical Otolaryngology. All rights reserved.