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F. BLAIR SIMMONS, MD
Stanford, Calif

Arch Otolaryngol. 1976;102(6):384.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—I wish to call attention to an important alternative conclusion about stellate ganglion blocks in the treatment of idiopathic sudden hearing loss (SHL). In their paper recommending this treatment, Haug et al have merely succeeded in demonstrating once again that the earlier the diagnosis is established, the better the prognosis.¹ The authors did not take into account that a high percentage of patients with SHL will recover spontaneously, treatment or no treatment. In fact, 43% can expect a return to normal hearing if the diagnosis is established within the first week, if one excludes all patients whose loss remained undiagnosed for more than one month (as was done in the previous study).² I strongly suspect that SHL is much more common than generally believed, that many people recover spontaneously without seeing a physician, and that others recover while under the care of their family physician . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Footnotes
Accepted for publication Aug 23, 1973.

Reprint requests to 300 Pasteur Dr, Room R135, Stanford, CA 94305 (Dr. Simmons).

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