gms | German Medical Science

77th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

24.05. - 28.05.2006, Mannheim

Article

Send article

Auriculotherapy in chronic tinnitus management

Meeting Abstract

Search Medline for

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie. 77. Jahresversammlung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie e.V.. Mannheim, 24.-28.05.2006. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2006. Doc06hnod684

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hnod2006/06hnod684.shtml

Published: April 24, 2006

© 2006 Radkova.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

Text

In this prospective controlled study we evaluated the efficacy of auriculotherapy (AT) on chronic tinnitus. 100 tinnitus sufferers were included into the study (54 men, 46 women; mean age 56 years, mean tinnitus duration 6,7 years), all the patients were previously uneffectively treated by peroral medicaments. The study group underwent AT, controll groups were treated by infusions of Lidocain or Cavinton and physiotherapy. We used visual analogue scale, audiometry and tinnitometry for evaluation.

Results: after AT treatment one half of patients had relief of tinnitus perception, but the relief was not detectable by objective methods; AT is a complex method and except effects on tinnitus other benefits have also appeared; the most often detected points correspond with assumed tinnitus etiopathogenesy; compared with infusion therapy AT has higher ratio of subjectively improved patients.

In the paper we discuss the principles of auriculotherapy, advantages and disadvantages of AT compared with standard therapy, questions of transitory and persistent tinnitus relief and the limbic system influence on tinnitus persistence.