Background and Objectives: Tinnitus, which is known one of the least curable disease or symptoms, consists in persistent ringing, buzzing, or noise in ears. Many peoples are suffering all their lives from tinnitus, which is present 24 hours a day
and
cannot be controlled with medication. Many medications and techniques are used to control this disastrous tinnitus, but remain some patients without improvement. Jannetta insisted tinnitus was one of the hyperactive cranial nerve disease
compressed
by
cranial vessels. This study was designed to obtain the better postoperative results through the analysing the age and sex, operative findings, radiologic causative vessels and symptom improvement whether or not in the future.
Materials and Methods: We reviewed fifty nine patients received the microvascular decompression for severe tinnitus from 1996 to 1997. Postoperative improvement about tinnitus was examined by way of questionnaire. In addition, past history,
neurologic
examination, audiologic finding including brainstem evoked response audiometry, magnetic resonance audiometry, magnetic resonance imaging, intraoperative feature and postoperative complication were assessed from the chart review.
Results: Those were as follows;
1) The causative vessel was mainly the anterior cerebellar artery (AICA) and tinnitus was improved markedly when the causative vessels were AICA and/or vein.
2) The age before 45 male patients were more markedly improved than age after 45 female.
3) The patients identified causative vessels on magnetic resonance imaging were more markedly improved.
4) The most common postoperative complication were meningitis.
Conclusions: Tinnitus in not a incurable symptom but a disease that can be cured by microvascular decompression. The ideal candidates for favorable outcome for microvascular decompression are female, age before 45, identified compressing vessel
on
magnetic resonance imaging, single causative vessel and shot duration of symptom.
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