Vascular Compression of the Vestibulocochlear Nerve -> Tinnitus

[reeax]

An article that may be of interest for some ... Basically it tells that a vascular compression of the vestibulocochlear nerve may lead to different symptoms, including tinnitus. Also, an arterial loop pressing at the nerve has been identified as the cause of pulsatile tinnitus in one described case.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2793889/

Good news, it can be treated in most cases by microvascular decompression (MVD). This is how it looks like inside. You can clearly see an artery compressing the VIII cranial nerve during surgery:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2793889/figure/f19417-3/

It seems pretty logic that you can hear a pulsating tinnitus in such case.

 

[ScoutLee]

Thanks for these studies, Reeax.

Very interesting.

I wonder if the PT can come and go with these conditions? Mine is unilateral, but comes and goes throughout the month (usually have a few episodes of it per month at least - often lasting days).

 

[reeax]

If your muscular spasms vary during the month - which is most probably the case (say you sleep in a bad position one night) - this can impact your arterial pressure on heart beats (blood flow is not the same) => make your tinnitus much more noticeable because nerve compression is higher. So I think yes without much doubt.

As your muscular spasm goes down with time, so does your pulsatile tinnitus.

 

[Lulu187]

I have just been diagnosed with this. But my tinnitus is not pulsatile. It is continuous. I dont think that I would want to have brain surgery, wondering if there are any other treatments