There are a variety of causes of SSNHL.
ORLANDO—Researchers hoping that new treatments beyond steroids will soon pan out for sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) are buoyed by recent results with the interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptor antagonist anakinra in patients with autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED).
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November 2014A panel discussed this new research and provided context for the new clinical care guidelines for SSNHL in a session here at the AAO-HNS Annual Meeting.
Previous research has found that patients with AIED who are steroid resistant have higher levels of plasma interleukin-1 beta (IL-1B) than those who respond to steroids and that the IL-1 receptor antagonist anakinra can suppress its release. Andrea Vambutas, MD, chair of otolaryngology at Long Island Jewish Medical Center and North Shore University Hospital in New York, hopes that recent findings on patients with AIED are also found to be true for patients with SSNHL.