PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

N Ziavra

Publications and source records attributed to N Ziavra.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Hearing loss in progressive systemic sclerosis patients: a comparative study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the middle and inner ear involvement in patients with progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS). STUDY DESIGN AND SETTINGS: We prospectively evaluated 34 PSS patients. All patients underwent a complete ear-nose-throat physical examination and audiological evaluation with pure tone, impedance, and speech audiometry. In addition, systemic manifestations of the disease and drug therapy were recorded. Finally, all patients were tested for the presence of autoantibodies. The results were compared with those of 45 age-matched healthy subjects. RESULTS: We found a sensorineural hearing loss in 20% and mixed type hearing loss in 3.3% of the patients. There was no correlation of hearing loss with age, systemic manifestations of the disease, presence of autoantibodies, and drug therapy. Ten percent of the patients had patulous eustachian tubes. CONCLUSION: One fourth of PSS patients had a hearing loss affecting the middle and mainly the high frequencies. This is a lower percentage than that reported by other investigators. A significant prevalence of bilateral patulous eustachian tubes was noticed as well. Further investigation is needed for a better understanding of the mechanism of ear damage in PSS patients.

Adult↗

Hearing loss in Sjögren's syndrome patients. A comparative study.

OBJECTIVE: In an attempt to investigate the presence of hearing loss in primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS) patients and to determine the factors that might be involved in its pathogenesis, we prospectively evaluated 45 female SS patients with a mean age of 56.8 +/- 9.23 years and a mean disease duration of 8.32 +/- 5.39 years. METHODS: Forty patients underwent a complete ear-nose-throat physical examination and audiological evaluation with: (a) pure tone audiometry thresholds at octave frequencies of 250 to 8000 Hz; (b) impedance audiometry (tympanogram, static compliance, acoustic reflexes, reflex decay; and (c) speech audiometry and auditory brainstem response where indicated. In addition, glandular and extraglandular manifestations of the disease and drug therapy were recorded. Finally, all patients were tested for the presence of autoantibodies, including: rheumatoid factor, antinuclear antibodies, antibodies to Ro(SSA), La(SSB) nuclear antigens, anticardiolipin antibodies and antineutrophil cytoplasmatic antibodies. The results were compared with those of 40 healthy, age-matched women. RESULTS: We found sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in 9 patients (22.5%): 4 patients bilaterally, 4 patients in the left ear only and one in the right ear only. In all cases the site of the ear damage was cochlear. A correlation between SNHL and the duration of the disease was found, while there was no correlation with age, systemic manifestations of the disease or the presence of autoantibodies. In addition, no correlation was found between SNHL and drug therapy. CONCLUSION: Approximately one-fourth of our SS patients presented SNHL of cochlear origin affecting mainly the high frequencies. This prevalence was lower than that reported by other investigators. SNHL was associated only with disease duration. Further investigation is needed to attain a better understanding of the mechanism of inner ear involvement in SS patients.

Aged↗