The use of “rt-pa” for the treatment of sudden and “chronic hearing loss”
Abstract
Eighty patients with sudden hearing loss and seventy patients with a chronical cochlear function decreasing have been treated until now with intravenous infusion of a recombinant glycoprotein analogous tissutal plasminogen activator (rt-PA): 3mg dissolved in 250mg of physiological saline given every 12 hr intravenously.
Specifically excluded were patients with abnormal known coagulation.
No patient was treated longer than 20 days.
At the first observation a medical history and physical examination, a series of hearing tests including audiometry and otoacustic emission (OAE), routine blood examination and a blood clotting factor analysis were performed. During the treatment patients were monitored by hearing tests, OAE, auditory brainstem response, computer tomography and -nuclear magnetic resonance, when necessary. Patients were discharged when their audibility threshold stabilized.
No patient had side effects due to the treatment and the functional results are excellent at all, much more if compared with the protocols of therapy previously used for those kind of diseases.
Tissue plasminogen activator was used for the treatment of sudden hearing loss with remarkable success: this study also shows remarkable success with a very low dose of tPA, compared to the standard dosage used far the treatment of myocardial infarction patients.