Moscow develops unique hyperacusis surgery method
A unique surgery operation was performed in Moscow to treat Minor’s disease, a rare inner ear disorder that causes a person to hear their own body’s activity, such as heartbeat, eye and joint movements. Surgeons at Sverzhevsky Research Clinical Institute of Otolaryngology (commonly known as NIKIO) restored the seal of a man’s inner ear to have relieved the patient of the excruciating symptoms that had plagued him for ten years. This is a new minimally invasive technique that helps avoid conventional extensive and more traumatic surgeries, as announced by Anastasia Rakova, Deputy Moscow Mayor for Social Development.
“We do our best to create a favorable environment for Moscow doctors to develop and introduce innovative surgical approaches, thus helping patients even with the most severe conditions. The minimally invasive technique developed at Sverzhevsky Institute is a good example of such innovation. Surgeons helped a man who had suffered from a rare condition for ten years; it is Minor’s disease caused by congenital structural features of the inner ear. The patient could hear his eyeballs moving and his heart beating, experienced dizziness from sounds and felt an imbalance with the slightest head movements. The symptoms only worsened with each passing year. Earlier, in order to help such patients, physicians would perform a craniotomy, which was associated with a high risk of complications. Now, Moscow doctors employed the high-tech method to perform intervention in the safest and least traumatic manner possible using microsurgical instruments. Immediately after the surgery, the patient reported that the sounds had disappeared, and three days later he noted an improvement in his balance,” said Anastasia Rakova.
The man could not be helped for a long time, in fact. He contacted Sverzhevsky NIKIO and received a comprehensive medical diagnostics. The detailed test revealed that the man had Minor’s disease, a rare condition caused by congenital structural features of the inner ear, which is responsible for both hearing and balance. The inner ear consists of three semicircular canals filled with fluid and surrounded by dense bone tissue, which serves as a reliable protective barrier and seals the entire system. However, if there is a hole in the bony walls of the inner ear, sounds and movements are perceived too acutely and the sense of balance is unreliable.
The Moscow surgeons applied a microsurgery technique. In particular, they reached the troublesome area through the mastoid process without affecting the brain structures. Then they used a special material to close the hole, thus having restored the seal of the inner ear. The abnormal fluid movement stopped and the symptoms disappeared, as a result. So, the operation was a success, indeed.