Graham Hughes1 and Shirish Sangle2
(1)
The London Lupus Centre, London Bridge Hospital, London, UK
(2)
Louise Coote Lupus Unit, St Thomas’ Hospital, London, UK
Abstract
One of the commonest (and possibly still under-recognised) symptoms of Hughes Syndrome involves balance and hearing problems.
One of the commonest (and possibly still under-recognised) symptoms of Hughes Syndrome involves balance and hearing problems.
In a number of patients, for example, the initial presentation of APS is of acute vertigo, often labelled as Meniere’s disease.
Other balance problems are frequent, some associated with migraine.
Tinnitus is seen in a few patients.
14.1 Hearing Loss
Sensory neural hearing loss is a condition characterised by progressive hearing loss in previously healthy people. For the past 30 years, it has been labelled as possibly “auto-immune,” a label based partly on experimental and histological studies as well as an association with various auto-immune disorders. There is a logical reason why APS might be implicated in some of these cases.
The cochlear vessels supply an end-organ and like the cerebral vessels, hip vessels and others, ischaemia here could result in loss of function.
A number of studies of sensory-neural hearing loss have suggested an association with aPL, raising the speculation that this disease is microthrombotic (rather than inflammatory).