Bright spot on mri in deaf ear?

[JeWeL41]

I had sudden hearing loss on 25th Nov 2006  with ear fullness, very loud tinnitus, left sided headaches, shooting pains in the ear and earache, strange facial sensations and minor twitching, imbalance and recently some mild confusion or 'brain fog'. My symptoms are getting worse but i have been diagnosed with Idiopathic Sudden Sensorneural Hearing Loss and basically written off by medics. I have paid for a contrast mri and you can see the pics on the link below (copy and paste). The very short report rules out an acoustic neuroma (which was suspected) and states' no areas of pathological enhancement following intravenous contrast'.

Can you please tell me what is the large bright white area in the left ear then? Surely this must be responsible for my symptoms? Could it be a meningioma or something as simple as scarring from a virus or little bleed which they say can cause SSHL. In the UK we battle at every turn with the professionals and I am desperate for any help you can give.

http://www.frappr.com/?a=myphotos&id=4872740

Thanks

[Eric P Wilkinson, MD]

The large bright area is a dominant sigmoid sinus and jugular bulb/vein.  This is not a tumor, but is a variant of normal anatomy.  Your IAC region looks clear, but it is not leveled properly for me to fully evaluate it.  You could certainly have another radiologist take a look to make sure they agree with the diagnosis.

Hope this helps.  Good luck!

This answer is not intended as and does not substitute for medical
advice - the information presented is for patients education only.
Please see your personal physician for further evaluation of your
individual case.

[JeWeL41]

Thank you so much for your response. I am obviously relieved that this is not a tumour. Could it be the source of my problems though? and if so could anything be done. I am in constant pain and that coupled with the hearing loss and tinnitus is extremely hard to bear.