Current diagnostic criteria of Meniere’s disease: a review

Abstract

<p>Meniere’s disease (MD) is a chronic inner ear disease that severely affects the quality of life. MD often remains a diagnostic dilemma that challenges clinicians for its treatment. The clinical variability found in MD makes it necessary for the improvement of the diagnostic criteria with clinical findings and patient history. Taking into account the frequent nature of MD, proper diagnostic criteria are reliable for early diagnosis which is helpful for successful management of this morbid disease and undoubtedly cost-effective for the health care system. This review paper discusses on diagnostic criteria for MD jointly formulated by the equilibrium committee of the American academy of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (AAO-HNS), the classification committee of the Barany society, the Japan society for equilibrium research, the European academy of otology and neurotology (EAONO) and the Korean balance society. The classification for MD includes two categories such as definite MD and probable MD. Diagnosis of definite MD is based on certain clinical criteria and need observation of episodic vertigo along with low to medium frequency sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and fluctuating aural symptoms such as hearing loss, tinnitus, and/or fullness in the affected ear. The duration of vertigo is lasting from 20 min to 12 hours. The probable MD is a broader concept defined by episodic vertigo associated with fluctuating aural symptoms lasting for 20 min to 24 hours.</p>