Mount Sinai neurotologists perform labyrinthectomy in patients with Meniere’s disease for whom lifestyle and medical therapy has not worked and hearing is no longer amenable to using a hearing aid. Meniere’s disease is characterized by fluctuations in hearing, bouts of vertigo/dizziness, and fullness or ringing in the ear. Medical therapy and lifestyle changes generally consist of a low salt diet, steroid injections or pills, various vitamins, or pills typically used for migraines. Endolymphatic sac surgery consists of removing the bone behind the ear, or mastoid, and the bone over the endolymphatic sac. The goal of the procedure is to decompress the sac and improve vertigo without causing hearing loss. For patients with a lot of hearing loss already from Meniere’s, we perform labyrinthectomy with a cochlear implant. Labyrinthectomy is also used as an adjunct in other procedures, such as acoustic neuroma/vestibular schwannoma to gain access to the tumor. By removing the neural elements that detect balance on the side of the Meniere’s disease, the brain will learn to better compensate for total unilateral vestibular loss rather than weakness. Labyrinthectomy is NOT recommended in patients with Meniere’s disease in both ears or in those at risk of having debilitating vestibular loss on both sides.
George Wanna, MD, FACS Chair of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai Beth Israel Chief, Division of Otology-Neurotology Mount Sinai Health System Professor of Otolaryngology, and Neurosurgery Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Maura K. Cosetti, MD Director, Ear Institute at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary (NYEE) of Mount Sinai Director, Cochlear Implant Program Mount Sinai Health System
Enrique R. Perez, MD, MBA Director of Otology-Neurotology The Mount Sinai Hospital Assistant Professor, Otolaryngology Mount Sinai Health System
Zachary G. Schwam, MD Assistant Professor, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Division of Otology-Neurotology, Lateral Skull Base Surgery Mount Sinai Health System
