The clinical features and image characteristics of Meniere’s disease patients with endolymphatic hydrops confirmed by enhanced magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract Objectives: To analyze and summarize the clinical features and image characteristics of Meniere’s Disease (MD) patients with Endolymphatic Hydrops (EH) confirmed by enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Methods: 252 MD patients with EH confirmed by MRI were enrolled. All patients met the diagnostic criteria forMD and underwent intravenous gadolinium injection. After 4 h, MR examinations were performed. The Nakashima grading standard was used to classify EH and evaluate its correlation with clinical features. Results: Different degrees of EH were shown in all MD patients, and 157 of the 252 (62.3%) patients showed significant EH, 95 of the 252 (37.7%) patients showed mild EH. Only 89 (35.3%) met the diagnostic criteria for definite MD, and the remaining 163 (64.7%) patients met the diagnostic criteria for probable MD. Compared with patients with unilateral EH, the symptoms of the first affected ear of patients with bilateral EH were more serious. The degree of EH was related to the degree of hearing loss (p