Is there a need for audiologic evaluation in patients with Behçet disease?

Evaluation of hearing loss and tinnitus in Behcet's disease

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study is to evaluate sensorineuralhearing loss (SHNL) and tinnitus in patients with Behcet's disease (BD), while also determining the association between the clinical symptoms of BD and the disease duration with the development of hearing loss.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study included 44 patients with BD and 42 healthy volunteers as the control group. The level of tinnitus-induced annoyance and the effects of tinnitus on daily life were evaluated with Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and the Tinnitus Reaction Questionnaire (TRQ). The hearing levels of all participants were measured with high-frequency audiometry and transient auto-acoustic emission tests.

RESULTS

The patients with BD were significantly more affected by SNHL and tinnitus than the controls (p < 0.05). The correlation between disease duration and age among those with SNHL was statistically significant (p < 0.05). No association was found between the clinical findings and SNHL and tinnitus (p > 0.05) in the BD patients.

CONCLUSION

In the present study, high-frequency SNHL was found to be common in among the patients with BD. SNHL in BD is positively correlated with the patients' age of the and the disease duration.

Cervical and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials in Behcet's disease

OBJECTIVE

To investigate vestibular evoked myogenic potentials combined with audiologic status in Behcet's disease (BD) and to compare the results with normal healthy subjects.

METHODS

Cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP) test, ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential (oVEMP) test, Dix-Hallpike test, conventional pure tone audiometry (cPTA) and high frequency audiometry (HFA), and 226 and 1000Hz tympanometry were performed to each subject of the study. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with contrast enhancement was also performed to evaluate the central nervous system (CNS) in patients with BD.

RESULTS

VEMP parameters including the mean peak latencies of p13-n23 and n10-p15, AR values and thresholds were not statistically different both in cVEMP and oVEMP between the BD and control groups. Except for 250Hz, mean audiological thresholds were significantly higher in the BD group. Five of the 20 patients had pathological cranial MRI findings that may be compatible with central nervous system involvement.

CONCLUSION

To our knowledge, the present study is the first report investigating oVEMP and cVEMP responses combined with MRI findings in patients with BD. The presence of high frequency hearing loss is a common finding in BD and HFA may help early detection of hearing loss in patients with BD when combined with cPTA.