What diseases can cause tinnitus? Tinnitus is a clinical symptom that can be caused by many diseases of the whole body in addition to ear diseases (cerumen embolism of the external ear canal, eczema of the external ear canal, tympanitis, otitis media, Meniere’s disease, sudden deafness, auditory neuritis, auditory neuroma), such as cardiovascular diseases; (hypertension, coronary heart disease, arteriosclerosis, cerebral thrombosis, anemia, angioma); metabolic diseases (hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, gout) Neurological diseases (traumatic brain injury, encephalitis, meningitis, brain tumor); cervical spondylosis; psychiatric diseases; (anxiety, depression, schizophrenia) and pharmacogenic (application of ototoxic drugs) or noisy tinnitus; tinnitus of unknown origin. Beijing Chaoyang Hospital Hyperbaric Oxygen Department Wu Lianhua What are the treatments for tinnitus? Etiological treatment: such as removal of cerumen for cerumen embolism; anti-inflammatory treatment for otitis media; active treatment of Meniere’s disease for Meniere’s disease; effective reduction of blood pressure for hypertension; endocrine treatment for endocrine abnormalities; timely removal of tumor for auditory neuroma; active improvement of cardiac and renal functions for cardiac and renal diseases; stop using ototoxic drugs for pharmacogenic tinnitus; anti-anxiety and depression treatment for anxiety and depression. The treatment for tinnitus should be anti-anxiety and depression. Since there are many causes of tinnitus, and most patients do not know the cause, the treatment effect of tinnitus is often not very satisfactory. Pharmacological treatment: The current pharmacological treatment for tinnitus with unclear causes includes anticoagulation, vasodilatation, hormones, vitamins, drugs to improve microcirculation and nerve nutrition, etc. Symptomatic and psychological treatment: To relieve symptoms, symptomatic medication such as sedative drugs can be used. For neurological tinnitus, psychological treatment should be emphasized to maintain a good mood, avoid environmental stimulation, and pay attention to rest; those who consider the possibility of psychogenic causes can receive some psychological treatment. Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture treatment: Chinese traditional medicine discriminative treatment and acupuncture treatment are also a treatment method that can be used. Other treatments: lidocaine intravenous injection, which may inhibit the overexcitation of neurons in the auditory conduction pathway, can reduce tinnitus in some cases; habituation therapy, which promotes patients to adapt to tinnitus and get used to it; masking therapy, which uses acoustic stimuli matching tinnitus to produce a masking effect, also has certain efficacy. Since the causative factors of tinnitus are not clear, it is not possible to clearly target the cause of tinnitus, and despite the above treatments, some patients are still not satisfied with the results. Why can hyperbaric oxygen therapy treat tinnitus? Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has a unique therapeutic effect that cannot be replaced by drug therapy. Hyperbaric oxygenation can significantly increase the blood oxygen content, increase the partial pressure of blood oxygen, increase the radius of oxygen diffusion, and enhance the aerobic metabolism of the body, thus improving the systemic oxygen supply; the improvement of oxygen supply can greatly increase the oxygen content of the inner ear microcirculation, and improve the local hypoxia. Hyperbaric oxygen also controls infections by antibacterial and antiviral effects; because hyperbaric oxygen also inhibits platelet aggregation and lowers blood viscosity, it helps to dissolve microthrombi and improve tinnitus caused by ischemia and high blood viscosity. When should hyperbaric oxygen treatment for tinnitus start? How to treat it? The earlier the better. If tinnitus is detected by a hyperbaric physician, hyperbaric oxygen therapy should be started early, except for contraindications to hyperbaric oxygen therapy. If you miss the acute stage and the duration of the disease is already long, then hyperbaric oxygen therapy will not have any significant effect. Generally, 10 times of hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a course of treatment, and each treatment time is 2 hours, in which the time of pressure raising and decompression is 1 hour, and the time of absorbing pure oxygen is 1 hour. Generally, one course of treatment can be effective, and those who have poor effect can increase the course of treatment, and some patients can improve the efficacy. Combining hyperbaric oxygen therapy with early medication for tinnitus is a more active treatment method at present. Even with this treatment there are still some patients who do not get significant improvement in tinnitus, so we remind tinnitus patients not to miss the opportunity of early hyperbaric oxygen treatment.