• DOI:10.1136/bmj.g6544
• Corpus ID: 5099437

Meniere’s disease

@article{Harcourt2014MenieresD,
  title={Meniere’s disease},
  author={John A. Harcourt and Kevin Barraclough and Adolfo M Bronstein},
  journal={BMJ : British Medical Journal},
  year={2014},
  volume={349}
}

• J. Harcourt, Kevin Barraclough, Adolfo M Bronstein
• Published 12 November 2014
• Medicine
• BMJ : British Medical Journal

#### The bottom line

Meniere’s disease is often considered in the differential diagnosis of episodic dizziness, although it is not a common cause of new onset vertigo. Rather it is a disorder of the inner ear, characterised by recurrent attacks of self limiting vertigo. These attacks are associated with unilateral fluctuating low frequency sensorineural hearing loss, a sense of “fullness” in the affected ear (aural fullness), and tinnitus.1 Clinical findings are initially normal between attacks but later there is unilateral hearing loss and tinnitus. Treatment of the condition has not been evidence based in the past, but new treatments look promising.

In this article we discuss what is known about the pathogenic process of Meniere’s disease and consider the clinical presentation of the disease, its clinical course and prognosis, and what clinical features help to discriminate the condition from other diagnoses. We also examine the evidence for treatment.

#### Sources and selection criteria

We carried out a search of Medline for systematic reviews in the Cochrane Collaboration and Clinical Evidence from 1966-2013 using the key words “Meniere’s disease”, “inner ear”, “treatment”, “vertigo”, and “hearing loss”. We also base this review on the extensive experience of two of the authors (JH and AMB) in assessing and treating patients with the Meniere’s disease.

Meniere’s disease was first described by Prosper Meniere, a French doctor who worked …