Abstract
Objective
To observe any changes in stria vascularis and cochlear hair cells in patients with
syphilis.
Materials and methods
We examined 13 human temporal bone samples from 8 patients with syphilis (our syphilis
group), as well as 12 histopathologically normal samples from 9 age-matched patients
without syphilis (our control group). We compared, between the two groups, the mean
area of the stria vascularis (measured with conventional light microscopy connected
to a personal computer) and the mean percentage of cochlear hair cell loss (obtained
from cytocochleograms).
Results
In our syphilis group, only 1 (7.7%) of the 13 samples had precipitate in the endolymphatic
or perilymphatic spaces; 8 (61.5%) of the samples revealed the presence of endolymphatic
hydrops (4 cochlear, 4 saccular). The mean area of the stria vascularis did not significantly differ, in any turn of the cochlea, between the 2 groups (P > 0.1). However, we did find significant differences between the 2 groups in the mean percentage of outer
hair cells in the apical turn (P < 0.026) and in the mean percentage of inner hair cells in the basal (P = 0.001), middle (P = 0.004), and apical (P = 0.018) turns. In 7 samples in our syphilis group, we observed either complete loss
of the organ of Corti or a flattened organ of Corti without any cells in addition
to the absence of both outer and inner hair cells.
Conclusion
In this study, syphilis led either to complete loss of the organ of Corti or to significant
loss of cochlear hair cells, in addition to cochleosaccular hydrops. But the area
of the stria vascularis did not change.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 06, 2016
Accepted:
January 14,
2016
Received:
November 3,
2015
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
