Growth-Factor Gel Shows Promise As Hearing-Loss Treatment

Sudden Sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) causes 40,000 Americans a year to become deaf. It is brought on in multiple ways such as old age, infections and tumors. The use of growth factor gel (IGF1) though has show promising results in the returning of some hearing function to patients.

Takayuki Nakagawa, a Japanese researcher, tested the gel on 25 patients who did not respond to the standard treatments for SSHL, which is systemic guticosteroids. 48% of the patients showed hearing improvement at 12 weeks and 56% at 24 weeks. Also no severe adverse affects to the treatment were shown during testing. Due to these findings Takayuki Nakagawa is pushing for randomized clinical trials to further develop the legitimacy of this treatment. So with 20% of patients not responding to systemic guticosteroids Takayuki Nakagawa suggests that the use of topical IGF1 may be the solution for those patients.

This article caught my attention due to the bringing of hearing back to the deaf. There is something about restoring the function of the five senses that I feel is very appealing. Especially to imagine a patient who has been with out the use of there eyes or nose or in this case ears and being able to return to normal function and appreciate what most take for granted gives me a bit of the wonder and appreciation they are experiencing.

Sources:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/209292.php

http://thehearingfix.com/types-of-hearing-loss/sensorineural-hearing-loss/