Clinical Features and Endolymphatic Hydrops in Patients With MRI Evidence of Hydrops

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between grades of endolymphatic hydrops (ELH) and clinical characteristics and determine the detailed clinical characteristics of Ménière’s disease (MD) patients with evidence of hydrops based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods: One hundred ninety-eight MD patients (396 ears) with MRI evidence of hydrops were included. ELH grades were evaluated using the Nakashima grading standard. Correlations between the extent of ELH and clinical features were evaluated. Detailed clinical characteristics were analyzed to assess the clinical diagnostic criteria. Results: Of 198 patients, ELH was observed in 100% of cases on the clinically affected side and 8.6% of cases on the asymptomatic side. In addition, 98.5% of ELH was classified as moderate or significant grade. Low-frequency hearing loss was significantly correlated with the extent of both vestibular and cochlear hydrops, whereas the vertigo attack frequency showed no significant correlation with ELH grades. The disease duration of MD with bilateral ELH was longer than that with unilateral ELH. The clinical characteristics were variant and did not completely fit the proposed diagnostic criteria. Conclusions: MRI findings have relevance to the clinical severity, to a certain extent, but not vestibular symptoms. The proposed diagnostic criteria based on clinical characteristics may be partially effective; analysis of the detailed clinical characteristics of MD was meaningful. Diagnosis of MD based on both MRI and clinical symptoms could facilitate an early diagnosis.