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Menière's disease: evolution of a definition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

N. J. P. Beasley  and
N. S. Jones
N. J. P. Beasley*
Affiliation:
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Walton Hospital, Liverpool, UK.
N. S. Jones
Affiliation:
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK.
*
Address for correspondence: Mr N. J. P. Beasley, 6, Sandlea Park, West Kirby, Wirral L48 0QF. Fax: 0151-529-4033
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Abstract

In 1861 Prosper Menière separated patients with episodic vertigo, hearing loss and tinnitus from a group previously described as having apoplectiform cerebral congestion. He suggested the cause was disease within the semicircular canals (Menière, 1861). Over the years it becoame apparent that within this group there were a number of patients with characteristic signs and symptoms and in 1938 a pathological correlate was found in the form of endolympatic hydrops. Descriptions scuh as Menière's ‘Menière's ‘disease’, Menière's ‘syndrome’ and Menière' ‘symptom complex’ led to a confusing array of terms for this condition and monotoring of treatment results became difficult. In response to this in 1972 the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Otolaryngoly Committee on Hearing and Equillibrium published a clear definition of Menière's disease and criteria for the reporting of treatment results, it was updated in 1985 and again in 1995. We described the changes that have taken place as the definition of Menière's disease has evolved.

Keywords

History of Medicine, 19 the Century, 20th centuryMenière's disease
Type
Historical Article
Information
The Journal of Laryngology & Otology , Volume 110 , Issue 12 , December 1996 , pp. 1107 - 1113
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1996

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Footnotes

Presented at the British Society for the History of ENT, Birmingham, October 1994. Winner of the Junior Doctor presentation prize.

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