What is Ménières syndrome?
This is a chronic, progressive, destructive disorder involving both cochlea and labyrinth resulting in permanent hearing loss and vestibular injury over time. It can affect one or both ears and follows a relapsing and remitting course. A number of known disorders such as autoimmune disease, human immunodeficiency virus infection, and syphilis can cause identical symptoms. So the term Ménière’s syndrome is used only for cases in which the cause is unknown. The term is often used interchangeably with this pathological description endolymphatic hydrops. Since a high accurate method to detect this abnormality in life is not yet available, the diagnosis is primarily subjective. Patients with recurrent vertigo but without evidence of progressive hearing loss or permanent vestibular injury do not need diagnostic criteria for this disorder.
