Tinnitus: pharmacological topodiagnosis
Abstract
It’s well known that the accurate localization of the source where subjective tinnitus comes from is very difficult.
The anamnesis and the traditional audiological tests can often suggest if its origin is peripheral and/or central only. Therefore several Authors, as Risey, Denk and Shulman, have recently proposed picking out the source of subjective tinnitus through the evaluation of the responses reported by patients to adequate pharmacological treatments.
This paper shows an useful plan to perform the tinnitus topodiagnosis , consisting in specific audiological tests evaluating the characteristics of the symptom (annoyance, pitch, loudness, hyperacusis) and in several pharmacological tests carried out through the administration of particular drugs whose pharmacodynamic mechanisms and meaning side effects are described. On the basis of the pharmacological effects on the tinnitometry, some drugs will be combined.