Post-irradiation endolymphatic hydrops vs. post-irradiation sudden deafness

•This paper introduced a new disease termed “post-irradiation endolymphatic hydrops (PIEH)”.•MR imaging provides a key role for differentiating the PIEH from the post-irradiation sudden deafness (PISD).•Most patients with PIEH had bilateral involvement.•Most patients with PISD showed unilateral affliction.•The interval from the onset of nasopharyngeal carcinoma to acute hearing loss did not significantly differ between the PIEH (10 ± 6 years) and PISD (8 ± 2 years). Increasing numbers of acute sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) are recently experienced in irradiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) survivors. This study adopted MR imaging to differentiate between post-irradiation sudden deafness (PISD) and post-irradiation endolymphatic hydrops (PIEH) in long-term NPC survivors with acute SNHL. From 2012 to 2021, consecutive 10 irradiated NPC survivors with acute SNHL were enrolled. All patients underwent an inner ear test battery and MR imaging using HYDROPS-Mi2 technique. Six patients (11 ears) with positive cochlear hydrops on MR images were diagnosed as PIEH, while another 4 patients (4 ears) without cochlear hydrops on MR images were referred to PISD. The interval from the onset of NPC to acute SNHL did not significantly differ between the PIEH (10 ± 6 years) and PISD (8 ± 2 years). No significant difference was found between the two disorders from any of the symptomatic, radiotherapeutic, audiological, or vestibular perspective. Interestingly, most (5/6) patients with PIEH had bilateral involvement, while all (4/4) patients with PISD showed unilateral affliction. A significantly declining sequence of abnormality rates in the inner ear test battery was noted in the PIEH patients, running from the audiometry (100%), cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) test (100%), ocular VEMP test (73%), to the caloric test (36%). However, such declining trend was not observed in patients with PISD. When facing an NPC survivor who had acute SNHL over a prolonged period after irradiation, MR imaging using HYDROPS-Mi2 technique should be performed to differentiate the PIEH from the PISD, since both disorders have various treatment modalities and hearing outcome.