Decompression sickness of the inner ear and relationship with a patent oval foramen: a study of 61 cases

To discuss the link between inner ear decompression sickness and patent foramen ovale.

Monocentric and retrospective study on decompression sickness of the inner ear requiring hyperbaric chamber treatment, from 2014 to 2021.

Sixty-one patients of inner ear decompression sickness were included in this study. Twenty-four patients had vestibular injuries, 28 cochlear injuries and 9 cochleo-vestibular injuries. Compression chamber treatment was given, using an oxygen–helium mixture with oxygen partial pressure (PIO2) limited to 2.8 atmosphere absolute (ATA). All vestibular accidents completely recovered without clinical sequelae.

For cochlear accident only 10 out of 37 patients (27%) recovered completely.

A right–left shunt (patent foramen oval or intra-pulmonary shunt) was found in 31.1% of patients with inner ear decompression sickness (p > 0.05).

The presence of patent foramen oval in patients with inner ear decompression was not statistically significant in our study. Understanding of the pathophysiology of decompression illness and the physiology and anatomy of the labyrinth would suggest a mechanism of supersaturation with degassing in intra-labyrinthine liquids.