Sex: F
Vaccine: COVID19
Symptoms: Audiogram, Magnetic resonance imaging head, Tinnitus
Clinical narrative: R (RIGHT) CONSTANT TINNITUS; This spontaneous report was received from literature. This report concerned a female of unspecified age. The objective of this study was to describe cases of tinnitus after COVID-19 vaccination mainly to raise awareness of this possibility and prompt referral for audiology and otolaryngology evaluation for possible concurrent sudden sensorineural hearing loss and treatment as appropriate. The patient's height, and weight were not reported. The patient's concurrent conditions included: self-reported longstanding left sensorineural hearing loss. The patient did not had anxiety or depression as comorbidity. The patient received covid-19 vaccine ad26.cov2.s (suspension for injection, route of admin, and batch number were not reported, expiry: unknown) dose, start therapy date were not reported, 1 total administered for covid-19 prophylaxis. The batch number was not reported and has been requested. No concomitant medications were reported.  This study involved 27 patients out of which 4 patients received JANSSEN COVID-19 VACCINE. The patients ranged in age from 41 to 84 years old including seven male and twenty female patients. Patients were included if they are having possible covid vaccine related tinnitus and reported tinnitus onset within four weeks of any COVID-19 vaccine dose, no other attributable cause were identified, had an audiogram after onset of symptoms and at least one visit with our Otolaryngologists. On an unspecified date, within four weeks of vaccination the patient experienced R (right) constant tinnitus. The patient did not experienced dizziness, hearing loss/change perceived at presentation. The pure tone average (PTA) at presentation in R (right) was reported as 30 dB and in L (left) was 47 dB and pure tone average (PTA) after steroid treatment in R reported was 27dB and in L was 38 dB. Patient received oral and intratympanic steroid injections for tinnitus. Patient experienced mild improvement in her right tinnitus with oral and intratympanic steroid treatment, she also noticed improvement in her self-reported longstanding left sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) from childhood after the steroid treatment. Presumably this was due to the oral steroid treatment as the intratympanic steroids were delivered to the ear experiencing the new tinnitus (her right ear). MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) Brain CN 8 protocol done for asymmetric tinnitus (one patient had a slight asymmetry in word recognition score but otherwise normal audiogram, the other patient had a stable symmetric bilateral SNHL with left tinnitus) which was also negative. The action taken with covid-19 vaccine ad26.cov2.s was not applicable. The patient was recovering from R (right) constant tinnitus. The authors concluded that there is no definite correlation could be established between covid-19 vaccine and tinnitus with this retrospective study with such few cases. However, patients will still present to their medical providers with tinnitus with and without hearing loss after a COVID-19 vaccination. In cases of sudden hearing loss, treatment with oral and/or intratympanic steroids within the recommended time frame should be considered based on prior clinical practice guidelines as causation by COVID-19 vaccination has not been proven. Improvement in tinnitus after steroids is not clearly shown and providers should use their discretion in each individual case. This report was serious (Other Medically Important Condition). This case, from Same Literature article is linked to 20230424639, 20230427728 and 20230424648.; Sender's Comments: V0: 20230410678- R (right) constant tinnitus. The event has a compatible/suggestive temporal relationship, and is labeled. There is no information on any other factors potentially associated with the event. Therefore, this event is considered consistent with vaccine administration.