Effects on hearing and tinnitus following Dupilumab treatment of severe asthma with chronic rhinosinusitis - a case report

• Main Authors: Mads Thorsberger, Celeste Porsbjerg, Jesper Yde, Kasper Aanæs
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Stichting NASE 2021-05-01
• Series: Rhinology Online
• Subjects: dupilumab; anti-il-4r; hearing; eosinophilic otitis media; chronic rhinosinusitis
• Online Access: https://www.rhinologyonline.org/Rhinology_online_issues/manuscript_114.pdf

Background: Dupilumab (anti-IL-4R) is a novel biological agent approved for treatment of severe asthma with chronic rhinosinusitis. Beneficial effects on hearing have only been sparsely decribed. Case presentation: In this case story we present a 48-year woman, who experienced remarkably improved hearing and reduction of tinnitus after initiation of Dupilumab. Progress was monitored by respiratory physicians in collaboration with rhinologists and audiologists. SNOT-22 score improved from 83 to 27 and audiograms obtained before and during treatment illustrate a reduced air-bone gap and an improvement of speech recognition threshold from 25 dB (both ears) to 15 and 10 (left and right ear respectively). Conclusions: This case story implies a beneficial effect of Dupilumab treatment in patients with united airway disease with hearing impairment. The authors suggest an additional otological perspective in addition to standard monitoring.