Oral acetazolamide in Menière's disease

Abstract

The therapeutic efficacy of oral acetazolamide has been evaluated in a small pilot study of 14 patients with Menière's disease (23 hydropic ears). Symptomatic improvement was found in 4 cases. In 2 of these patients the improvement was not sustained, whilst another had to stop the drug due to the development of bilateral renal calculi. A deterioration in symptoms was seen in 3 cases. Significant adverse side-effects were encountered in 6 of the 13 patients (46.2 per cent) who complied with drug dosage instructions. It is suggested that this high incidence of side-effects may be consistent with a general metabolic difference between Menière's patients and normal subjects. We conclude that oral acetazolamide has no place in the medical treatment of Menière's disease.

Ménière's Disease Review 2005

“…Furstenberg and Lashmet (1934) recommended the low salt diet and ammonium chloride. Diamox has been evaluated several times with contradictory results (Varga et al, 1966;Brookes et al, 1982;Brookes and Booth, 1984). It is used less often now because agents that do not exhibit tachyphylaxis are available.…”

Meniere’s Disease Treatment

“…It is suggested that this high incidence of side effects can be consistent with the general metabolic difference between Meniere's disease patients and normal individuals. This work concluded that acetazolamide has no place in the medical treatment of Meniere's disease [9].…”

“…However, Brookes and Booth [9] published an observational study that was conducted in 14 patients who received acetazolamide with duration ranging from 1 week to 9 months and the therapeutic efficacy of this medication. There was improvement in four patients and improvement was not maintained in two of these, while the other had to cease the medication due to the development of kidney stone.…”

Meniere’s syndrome

“…One double-blind study using hydrochlorothiazide in 30 Acetazolamide, which was initially approved for the treatment of glaucoma, has been used in patients with Meniere's disease, although no double-blind controlled trial exists to support this use. In one report, oral acetazolamide was found ineffective [13,Class III]. Oral acetazolamide produced some improvement in experimentally induced endolymphatic hydrops [11].…”