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Nearly 50 percent of patients with kovida 19 had mild to moderate hearing damage at high frequencies, according to a study by the Nis Ear, Throat and Nose Clinic on the possible harmful effects of the new corona virus on hearing, the first of its kind in Serbia.
– We entered the audiometer and covid hospital of the Clinical Center of Nis and examined about 100 moderate and severe patients. We found the presence of hearing impairment in almost 50 percent of the respondents. At 4,000 and 8,000 hertz, respectively, that is, mild to moderate hearing loss at high frequencies, which means that the corona virus can also attack the auditory nerve, the director of this clinic, Dr. Dusan Milisavljevic, told Danas, recalling that this is the first prospective study of hearing tests in patients with covid in the world conducted in the red zone.
He also underlined that this research is the contribution of the Nis Ear, Throat and Nose Clinic and Serbian health care to the general efforts of world medicine to better understand and treat people with covid.
– We will send the results of the research to one of the most prestigious magazines in America, which deals with ENT issues. Since no one in the world has yet conducted such a comprehensive study of the impact of kovid 19 on hearing, we want our results to be presented to everyone, said Milisavljević.
He also specified that people with kovid have the same hearing impairment, regardless of age.
– We divide patients into age groups: 30 to 40, 40 to 50 and 50 to 65, and we do not examine those over 65 because that age also brings age-related hearing loss. We found that there were no differences in hearing loss between the young and the old. In all groups, we had hearing impaired patients, Milisavljevic specified. He said that at this stage of the investigation, doctors could not test how the corona virus damages hearing in infected people.
– We assume that the binding of the virus to hemoglobin reduces the oxygenation of the erythrocytes, which consequently reduces the transport of oxygen to the auditory nerve and auditory cells. Another possibility of hearing damage is the formation of microthrombi in the blood vessels of the inner ear, Milisavljevic said.
The director of the Clinic emphasized that corticosteroid preparations are used in the treatment of patients with covid.
– Dexamestazone is used to treat hearing damage. Corticosteroids are used to treat all patients who have hearing loss problems. Based on the data we obtained in the study, we determined that in some patients, hearing returns within a few weeks and in a few months, Milisavljević said.
He added that all the patients who had hearing problems due to kovid were registered.
– We invite you to check your hearing more thoroughly, so that we can enter the second phase, that is, find the right therapy. We are planning the second phase of examining the possible therapeutic effects of hearing loss in 19 patients, Milisavljević said.
We examined 74 patients
Dr Dušan Milisavljević said they examined 74 coronavirus-positive patients, who were in severe and moderate condition, and were hospitalized in the kovid hospitals of the Nis Clinical Center, and in the control group of 20 patients who recovered. In patients participating in the study, the “complete ENT system” is examined, using audiometric measurements of hearing, biochemical and laboratory analysis of samples, and clinical examinations. In doing so, all symptoms related to the head and neck, which are both ENT and neurological, are recorded. The patients in the sample are also monitored one month after treatment, to determine if the harmful changes may be more permanent.
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