The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-29
GIdnds And Deafness
By H. ADDINGTON BRUCE

To the evil effects of discorded functioning of certain of the so-called endOcrine glands must now be added, it would seem, the mal- ady of progressive deafness.
 Impressive testimony to this effect has recently been borne by a Boston physician, Dr. Dana W. Drury. It is testimony based not on any mere theoretical grounds, but on clinical experience in the diagnosis and treat ment of number of deaf persons
 Marked improvement and even some cures are reported by Dr. Drury as following the administration of glandular extracts. Though to be sure, he is careful not to raise false hopes by proclaiming gland therapy as a panacea for the deaf.
 On the contrary, writing in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, he explicitly states that mal-functioning of glands is only one of various causes of progressive deafness. The important thing is that he found it the main cause in a surprisingly large propOr- tion of cases studied by him.
 The glands involved were the thyroid, pitui- tary, and ovarian. In all cases where some one of these was at fault, the trouble was an under-functioning rather than an overtime tiOning Not always, though, was it easy to determine which gland was responsible for the condition of which the progressive deaf ness was an outstanding symptom
 Thus. Dr. Drury gives the case history of young woman of twenty weight, 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 tim nitus, or ringing in the ears.
 A diagnosis of glandular deafness being made it was at first thought, from varioIA indications, that the trouble was in her pitpi- tary gland. Kept on a pituitary treatment for six months she improved not at all. Then she was given ovarian extract, and within three months the headaches, the tinnitus, and the vertigo had ceased troubling her, while her hearing had been astonishingly changed for better.
 How is the physician to determine whether given case of deafness in endocrine in its origin or not? E.
 Dr. Drurys report does not answer this question as fully or as directly as might be desired. But he remarks that in tlle endo- crime cases seen by him the. deafness was frequently accompanied by a failing memory. And he goes on
 "The patients seemed dull, and concentra- tion vas an effort. The disposition in several was quite irritable, and there was a definite restlessness, They were nervous and intro spective.
 Several of these cases. stated that their deafness was more pronounced after serious illness such a typhoid and influenza. This is probably a toxemia, but it is also noted that the crisis of life, as well as worry and shock, take their toll as causative factors"
 They take their toll, that is to say, by re- acting 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 baffling 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 a forward step of the first importance.