Delhi hospital treats Dutch man with rare form of tinnitus

NEW DELHI: Doctors at a Delhi hospital have treated a man from The Netherlands, suffering from a rare form of tinnitus, which affected his daily life and activities.

Tinnitus is the perception of an abnormal sound in the ear, and may be a constant or an intermittent mush or an annoying ringing or hissing sound.

But the middle-aged Dutch man suffered from pulsatile tinnitus where he had been enduring a constant, non-stop, loud whoosh present throughout the day and night for over two years. It would coincide with each of his heartbeats.

He became very irritable, lost appetite and weight. He could not sleep despite taking sleeping pills regularly.

An MRI scan of the brain revealed gross compression of the hearing nerve by arteries, which were more than twice the normal size.

While there is no cure to the disease, doctors at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals in New Delhi suggested microvascular neurosurgery.

"The patient’s MRI scan had revealed a pretty complex anatomy. The auditory nerve had multiple levels of compression. At one point, it was being tightly strangulated by one of the arteries. It was quite a challenging and demanding surgery," said Dr. Pranav Kumar, Senior Consultant, Neurosurgery at the hospital, in a statement.

The surgery is not entirely new but it is exceptionally challenging and carries considerable risk and a high failure rate. Following the surgery, the patient is experiencing almost 90 per cent improvement in his tinnitus, the doctor said.

"We are happy our efforts have led to a significant improvement in the patient’s life. In the patient’s own words, he is a different man now, sleeping and eating like a normal human being. He does not need sleeping pills anymore," Kumar said.

"We are glad to have provided a solution to this rare form of tinnitus, enhancing the patient's quality of life," added Dr. (Prof) Ameet Kishore, Senior Consultant, ENT and Neurotology Surgeon at the hospital.