Aggregating the Symptoms of Superior Semicircular Canal Dehiscence Syndrome

Objectives/Hypothesis: To aggregate symptoms reported by patients with superior canal dehiscence syndrome (SCDS) and to develop an evidence-based symptom set by performing a systematic review of the literature. Study Design: Database search and critical assessment of research studies. Methods: Medline and PubMed databases were searched for articles that reported the preoperative symptoms of adult and pediatric patients with unilateral and bilateral SCDS. Articles were excluded if they reported on associated diseases or did not report symptoms. Results: Of the 397 articles retrieved, 66 were retained for quantitative analysis. Among 431 patients with SCDS, 91 symptom terms were reported. After combining synonymous terms, 22 symptoms were derived by consensus. Of the raw total number of reported symptoms, 92.5% can be attributed to five common symptoms: spontaneous dizziness (51%), autophony (42.5%), pressure-induced vertigo (37.4%), hearing loss (39.9%), and sound-induced vertigo (42.7%). Conclusions: This systematic review of symptoms reported by patients with SCDS identified a 22-item common symptom set. These items can be used to create an evidence-based patient-reported outcome measure to evaluate health-related quality of life in SCDS.