Early Dexamethasone Treatment Enhances Hearing Preservation after Pneumococcal Meningitis: An Animal Study

Materials and Methods: Thirty rats with confirmed diagnosis of meningitis after intracisternal S. pneumonia injection were randomly assigned to 3 groups. Animals in group 1 recieved intramuscular (im) ceftriaxone for 7 days, animals in group 2 recieved im dexamethasone on days 4-7 adjunct to im ceftriaxone treatment and animals in group 3 received im dexamethasone on days 1-4 adjunct to im ceftriaxone treatment. Hearing status of all rats were evaluated by auditory brainstem responses (ABR) on days 7 and 28 and categorized as normal hearing, moderate hearing loss, severe hearing loss and profound hearing loss.