Acta Otolaryngol 2002 Mar;122(2):173-8

Use of electrocochleography for assessing endolymphatic hydrops in patients
with Lyme disease and Meniere's disease.

Selmani Z, Pyykko I, Ishizaki H, Ashammakhi N.

Department of Ear, Nose and Throat Diseases, Satakunta Central Hospital, Pori,

From an otological standpoint, Lyme disease can manifest itself as Meniere's
disease both clinically and electrophysiologically. The aim of this study was
to describe the findings of routine clinical, auditory and vestibular tests in
patients with Meniere's and Lyme disease and to use electrocochleography (ECoG)
to assess the presence of endolymphatic hydrops (EH) in both diseases.
Transtympanic ECoG was performed in 91 patients with Meniere's disease and in
11 patients with confirmed Lyme disease. In both diseases the majority of
patients had more than one complaint. There was one case with isolated hearing
loss in the Lyme disease group. Typical clinical manifestations of Meniere's
disease (vertigo, sensorineural hearing loss and tinnitus) were found in 6/11
patients (54.5%) in the Lyme disease group. The ECoG results indicated that
there were 65/91 patients (71.4%) with Meniere's disease and 5 patients (45.5%)
with Lyme disease who presented with EH. No statistically significant
difference was found between the incidence of different symptoms of Meniere's
and Lyme disease. On the basis of these results, patients with Lyme disease
should undergo careful examination and investigation, especially in endemic
regions. The presence of EH does not exclude the presence of infection with
borreliosis as a cause of Meniere's disease-like symptoms.

PMID: 11936909 [PubMed - in process]