Viral cochleitis with gadolinium enhancement of the cochlea on magnetic resonance imaging scan

Sudden hearing loss is a clinical diagnosis describing hearing losses of sensorineural origin. The time period before onset is usually 72 hours. Many also characterize the loss by a decrement of at least 30 dB in 3 contiguous test frequencies.1,2 The causes are numerous, but one of the most frequent causes is a viral infection.3–6 One strong indication of a viral cause is an acute antibody titer elevation with a subsequent 4-fold reduction in titer during the next 2 months.3–6 Articles in the radiologic literature have chronicled the findings of enhancement of the inner ear with gadolinium MRI scans in cases of presumed viral infections.7,8 This is the first article to report the MRI enhancement of the cochlea in 2 patients with seroconversion evidence of a viral cochleitis.