Importance of electrocochleography and the Klockhoff test in the diagnosis of Menière's disease

Confirming the diagnosis in the case of clinical suspicion of Menière's disease is still a challenge in the daily work of an ENT doctor. Until now, Menière's disease is diagnosed by exclusion based on the presence of certain clinical criteria. A sensitive and specific diagnosis of Menière's disease is not clearly possible yet.

The aim of this work was to examine the role of objective, invasive electrocochleography and non-invasive, subjective Klockhoff test in the diagnosis of Menière's disease.

In this retrospective study, the data of 115 patients with clinically evident Menière's disease were collected and the results of electrocochleography and the Klockhoff test were compared with one another.

Whereas electrocochleography achieved a sensitivity of 59.1% in the study, the sensitivity of the Klockhoff test was only 36.5%. In contrast, the analysis of other data, such as the influence of age, gender, duration of the complaints and the severity of the hearing impairment, showed no significant differences.

In both tests, the sensitivity increases along the hearing loss, whereas the age of the patient has no influence on the test results. The sensitivity of the ECochG increases with the duration of the complaints; however, this could not be proven in the Klockhoff test. After critically comparing both methods with each other, the ECochG appears to be more sensible and also more recommendable as a diagnostic tool for Menière's disease. Nevertheless, the clinical anamnesis with the typical symptoms for the diagnosis of Meniere's disease is still essential.

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Artikel online veröffentlicht:
24. Mai 2022