Is there any relationship between sudden sensorineural hearing loss and protein Z plasma levels?
Aydın Acar1, Zeynel Öztürk2, Melih Çayönü1, Saltuk Buğra Kılınç1, Turan Turhan3, Esin Çalcı3, Oğuzhan Oğuz3, Ayşe İriz4
1Ankara Numune Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Kulak Burun Boğaz Kliniği, Ankara, Türkiye
2Ankara Numune Egitim ve Arastırma Hastanesi, Biyokimya Klinigi, Ankara, Türkiye
3Nişantaşı Üniversitesi Teknik Yüksekokulu, İstanbul, Türkiye
4Gazi Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Kulak Burun Boğaz Anabilim Dalı, Ankara, Türkiye
Keywords: Etiology, protein Z, sudden sensorineural hearing loss, thromboembolism.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the relationship between sudden sensorineural hearing loss and protein Z plasma levels.
METHODS: Twenty patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss (14 males; 6 females; mean age 51.6±14.6 years; range 23 to 75 years) and 30 healthy subjects without any hearing problems (14 males, 16 females; mean age 46.8±8.9 years; range 30 to 64 years) were investigated. Protein C, protein S, and protein Z plasma levels were measured.
RESULTS: When protein S and protein C levels were compared between the study groups, we did not find a statistically significant difference (p=0.78 and p=0.44), whereas, protein Z plasma levels were found to be considerably lower in the sudden sensorineural hearing loss group than in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.001).
CONCLUSION: Vascular causes may be involved in the etiology of sudden hearing loss. Changes in protein Z plasma levels might be associated with arterial thromboembolism or venous thrombosis in patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss.