Authors' objectives:

This aim of this report was to assess the effectiveness of carbogen gas in the treatment of sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

Authors' recommendations: - We identified three comparative studies that evaluate the effectiveness of carbogen gas in the treatment of sudden sensorineural hearing loss. - The studies compared carbogen gas to heparin infusion and standard care, and evaluated improvement in hearing. - The studies found no statistically significant differences between carbogen gas and either heparin infusion or standard care. - All studies have potential for bias due to non-randomisation, group differences at baseline, and differences in how the groups were treated. - One study indicates that carbogen may be more effective than anticoagulant therapy in patients with high sloping hearing losses (according to auditory threshold curves). - Comparative studies mostly over estimate a treatment effect, so it is probably safe to accept the conclusion that carbogen inhalation is no more effective than heparin or standard care in most patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

Authors' methods: Review

Project Status: Completed

URL for project: http://www.med.monash.edu.au/healthservices/cce/evidence/

Year Published: 2000

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: Australia

Organisation Name: Centre for Clinical Effectiveness

Contact Address: Monash Institute of Health Services Research, Block E, Monash Medical Centre, Locked Bag 29, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia. Tel: +61 3 9594 7505; Fax: +61 3 9594 7552.

Contact Name: cce@med.monash.edu.au.

Contact Email: cce@med.monash.edu.au.

Copyright: Centre for Clinical Effectiveness (CCE)