Indicators of endothelial dysfunction in sensorineural hearing loss

A comparative characteristic of clinical and audiological features in chronic and acute sensonural hearing loss (CNT), as well as an assessment of the blood levels of endothelial dysfunction factors in the studied groups, was performed. 130 people were examined, divided into 3 groups: Group I — patients with chronic CHT (50 people), group II — patients with acute CHT (50 people), group III — otologically healthy people (30 people). The audiological examination included performing tonal threshold audiometry on an AD629 clinical audiometer from Interacoustics (Denmark). Endothelial dysfunction was assessed by endothelin-1 and type 1 vascular adhesion molecules in blood serum by enzyme immunoassay (ELISA) using specific test systems, as well as by the level of fibrinogen in blood plasma using a modular platform for biochemical analysis. Statistical data was processed using the EXCEL 13 program. Patients with CNT, in addition to complaining of decreased auditory function, noise in the head/ears, and decreased intelligibility of spoken speech, noted a feeling of stuffiness and pressure in the affected ear/ears during acute CNT. The results of tonal threshold audiometry indicated a predominance of bilateral chronic grade I and II hearing loss and acute left-sided grade I hearing loss in the studied groups. According to the indicators of endothelial dysfunction in chronic CHT, the levels of vascular adhesion molecule type 1 and fibrinogen in the blood increased statistically significantly, which suggests damage to the endothelium of the vessels of the inner ear with thrombosis. Acute CHT was statistically significantly characterized by an increase in the level of endothelin-1 in the blood, as an indicator of a powerful vasoconstrictor. The relationship between endothelial dysfunction and CNT is of scientific interest and requires further study. interests are missing