Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-08-02
GLANDS AND DEAFNESS
AddinqtOn Bruce

II. RuuHS tOll ID lNC
TY\ O the evil effects of diScOrded function
ing OF certain of the so-calIed en-
docrine glands must now be added, it
would seem, the maady Of progressive deaf
ness.
Impressive testimony to this effect has re-
Gently been borne by a Boston physician, DR..
Dana w. Drury. 1t is testimony based not
on any mere theoretical grounds, but on
clinical experience in the diagnosis and treat
ment of a number of deaf persons.
Marked improvement and some cures
are reported by DR.. Drury following the
administration of glandular extracts. Though.
to be sure, he is careful not to raise false
hopes by procla inning gland therapy as a
panacea for the deaf.
On the contrary, writing in the Boston
Medical and Surgical Journal, he explicitly
states that notwithstanding of glands is only
one of various causes of progressive deaf
ness. The important thing is that he found
it the main cause in surprisingly large pro-
portion of cases studied by him.
The glands involved were the thyroid.
pituitary, and ovarian. In all cases where
some one of these was at fault the trouble
was an understanding rather than an
over-functoning. Not always, though, was
it easy TO determine which gland was re-
sponsible for the condition of which the pro-
gressive deafness was an outstanding symp-
TOM
Thus DR.. Drury gives the case history Of
a young woman of twenty-eight, who had
been deaf for fifteen years. From the age
of twenty-three her deafness, particularly in
the right ear, had been steadily growing
worse. In addition to deafness she suffered
from headache, vertigo, and constant tin
nitus, or ringing in the ears.
A diagnosis of glandular deafness being
made it was at first thought, from various
indications, that the trouble was in her pitul-
tary gland Kept on pituitary treatment
civ he ha m a Then
she was given overian extract, and within
three months the headaches, the tnnltus,
and the vertigo had ceased troubling her,
while her hearing had been astonishingly
changed for better.
How is the physician to determine wheth-
er a given case of deafness in endocrne in
it's origin or not?
Dr. Drury's report does not answer this
question as fully or as directly as might be
desired. But he remarks that in the endo-
crime cases seen by him the deafness was
frequently accompanied by a failing memory.
"The patients seemed dull, and concen-
tration was an effort. The disposition in sew
eral was quite irritable, and there was a
definite restessness. They were nervous and
interpretive.
Several of these cases stated that their
deafness was more pronounced after ser-
Gus illness, such as typhoid and influenza.
This is probably a toXemia, but it is also
noted that the crisis of life, as well as wor-
ry and shock, take their toll as causatiYe
factors'
They take their toll, that is to say, by
reacting unfayorably on the working of the
endocrines, and thus giving rise to symptoms
that may include progressive deafness.
Such deafness, it may well be added, has
long been a battling problem for medical
science So that if confirmed by future in
vestigators who will doubtless act promptly
on the hint DR.. Drury gives, his findings will
mark forward step of the first importance.
(Copyrght, 1924.)