Abstract
Objectives
1) To assess the different clinical varieties and the evolution of the patients. 2) To assess the clinical impact of the use of high dose corticotherapy. 3) To analyze the phenotype of the lymphocyte populations in peripheral blood. 4) To study the proliferative answer of mononuclear cells in peripheral blood under polyclonal mitogen stimulus.
Methods
A prospective study in patients with immunomediated inner ear disease was carried out, dividing them in 4 different clinical presentations: Sudden deafness, fluctuant hearing loss, Meniere's disease, and rapidly progressive hearing loss. We analysed 22 patients, controlling their clinical evolution and response to corticotherapy. We also made an immunophenotypical and functional characterization of the T lymphocytes in patients before and after treatment and comparing them with healthy controls. Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon range tests were used as statistical resources.
Results
59.09% of the patients treated with corticotherapy improved, with a 95% of treatment fulfillment. The T lymphocyte compartment's proliferative response was significantly lower in these patients (p value less than 0.05) and there was a higher CD56+ (p value less than 0,01) and CD8+ CD45RO+(p value less than 0.01) lymphocyte subpopulations expression in absolute and percentage numbers.
Conclusions
Immunomediated inner ear disease is related to T, B, and especially NK lymphocytosis associated to a redistribution of the T cell subpopulations.
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