system
Medical AI Inquiry: You was designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.  Labels: METHODS AND SUBJECTS, RESULTS. Meshes: Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Audiometry, Pure-Tone, Diagnosis, Differential, Female, Hearing Loss, Bilateral, Hearing Loss, Sensorineural, Hearing Loss, Sudden, Hearing Loss, Unilateral, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Severity of Illness Index, Tinnitus, Vertigo.
user
Simultaneous and sequential bilateral sudden sensorineural hearing loss: are they different from unilateral sudden sensorineural hearing loss? Context: Two hundred and thirty-two patients with USSHL, 11 with simultaneous BSSHL and 7 with sequential BSSHL, who were older than 15 years had onset of hearing loss<30 days, no head injuries or history of acoustic trauma. All patients received the same treatment (prednisolone). Hearing loss was more severe in simultaneous BSSHL in comparison to sequential BSSHL (p = 0.01) or USSHL (p = 0.03). Autoimmune diseases were far more common in simultaneous BSSHL (36% of patients) than USSHL. Positive antinuclear antibody was found in half of BSSHL patients and in only 8% of unilateral cases (p = 0.01). The frequency of hearing improvement was much lower in simultaneous BSSHL than in USSHL (p = 0.001). Complete or partial improvement was noted in 74% of unilateral cases versus 27% in simultaneous bilateral cases. Patients with sequential BSSHL improved in a similar way to unilateral cases.
assistant
Simultaneous BSSHL, sequential BSSHL and USSHL may have a completely different profile and should not be managed as one disease. Hearing loss, underlying autoimmune diseases, antinuclear antibodies, and improvement/recovery of hearing loss vary in a degree that implies different pathophysiology and prognosis.