Hemodynamic profile of young subjects with transient tinnitus

Objective: Our objective was to contribute to drawing a haemodynamic profi le of healthy subjects prone to labyrinthine disorders of functional origin. Study design: The aim was to determine if some haemodynamic aspects could characterize young people with a history of transient tinnitus, considered as an early symptom of cochlear damage possibly derived from hypoperfusion. In one year we studied 60 consecutive subjects (28 5.2, range 18\u201340 years): 24 who experienced transient tinnitus, and 36 without tinnitus. Exclusion criteria were a history of audiological and otological impairment, ear surgery, and known cardiac abnormalities. A clinical and echographic cardiac evaluation was performed, with assessment of blood pressure, heart rate, and left ventricular structure and function. Results: All results were within the normal range in both groups. The tinnitus group had a slightly lower body mass index (BMI) (p 0.05) and body surface area (BSA) (p 0.05), while age, blood pressure and heart rate were similar in the two groups. Tinnitus subjects showed reduced diastolic and systolic left ventricular internal dimensions (p 0.01 and 0.02, respectively) and left ventricular end-diastolic volume (p 0.02). Left ventricular mass (LVM) related to height 2.7 and observed LVM were reduced in tinnitus subjects (both p 0.02), while LVM related to BSA had a less marked reduction (p 0.04), and predicted LVM and appropriate LVM showed only a borderline statistically signifi cant reduction (p 0.05). Functional systolic left ventricular aspects were similar in the two groups apart from a lower stroke volume in tinnitus subjects compared with the no-tinnitus group (p 0.03), and no differences were observed in diastolic function indexes between the two groups. Conclusion: Subjects with a history of transient tinnitus, although presenting normal echocardiographic parameters, seem to have smaller somatic and cardiac structural characteristics, which could be less adequate in maintaining peripheral perfusion. In particular, a terminal circle district such as the cochlear one could thus show its stress through tinnitus. This observation indirectly supports the theory of a cochlear origin of tinnitus in a number of cases and is reminiscent of what happens in hypertension and heart failure