BACKGROUND: While anti-viral treatment for infants with congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) has been proven to improve hearing outcome in those with other clinical manifestations, treatment of infants with isolated sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) remains controversial.
METHODS: Data of infants with isolated SNHL who received prolonged anti-viral treatment between 2005 and 2017, were reviewed. Hearing status was evaluated for infants who had been followed for more than 1 year.
RESULTS: Among 329 treated cCMV infants, 59 (18%) were born with isolated SNHL. Hearing impairment was unilateral in 38 (64.4%) infants and bilateral in 21 (35.6%). Of the 80 affected ears at baseline, 55 (68.8%) improved and only 2 (2.5%) deteriorated. Most of the improved ears (53/55=96.3%) returned to normal hearing with no deterioration observed in the ears that were unaffected at baseline. On best ear evaluation, 21 infants who had suffered from bilateral hearing loss, 16 (76.1%) improved (93.7% normal functional hearing), none of the rest deteriorated.
CONCLUSIONS: Infants born with isolated SNHL due to cCMV were found to benefit from prolonged anti-viral treatment. These children (and ears) showed significant improvement in hearing status and no deterioration of unaffected ears at baseline. Our data can serve as a basis for the benefits of anti-viral treatment in these children. Avoiding treatment of these children due to the lack of prospective data, is debatable.
