Vascular Disorders and Tinnitus

Tinnitus can also be caused by blood vessel diseases. There are generally two forms of tinnitus in this type. One of those is pulsatile, that is, pulse-like sound. The other is perceived as feeling of sound, which rather resembles humming. In the past, vertebrobasilary artery from the neck veins was often seen as problematic. Narrowing of this vein was seen as the cause of tinnitus. However, this vein is located on the right and left sides. There are dozens of connection points between these right and left veins, even if one is in a state of constriction. These connections don't pose a problem in terms of blood transitions and tinnitus. Recent scientific studies already prove that fact. The reason of another tinnitus that occurs with blood vessels is the tinnitus that occurs with the carotid artery at right and left sides of frontal area of neck. This is rather felt as pulsatile, but sometimes felt like humming in the brain. A. carotiscomminis (carotid artery) passing through the neck region is the largest vein of neck through which blood is transmitted by high pressure. Aneurysm of carotid artery is rather problematic than stenosis. So, the reason of tinnitus might be related to blood pressure. When these regions are pressed by hand or when the neck is turned to the right or to the left tightly, tinnitus gets reduced. This is quite typical for this situation. The vein which is called as temporal artery passing through temporal area is located outer side of the skull. Saturity of this vein creates a pulse-like sensation with temporal muscles stiffness or increase of blood pressure. It is generally felt on the facing side of the head on pillow during sleep. It causes heartbeat to be felt around ear. Because chronic otitis media sometimes dissolves endaural bones, the structures between veins, such as Jugulerbulb, the vein part lies behind the ear and carries venous blood through the vein named sigmoid sinus, ears thin out and disappears. In this case, buzzes are heard in ear. Another vascular cause is related to the condition of the veins in brain. Extraneous vascular bundles (hemangiomas), which are not normal in the brain but only have a meaning in terms of tinnitus, and which do not give important signs to the person, expansion of vascular forms (angiomas), anomalies in the connection between arteries and veins that is called as arteriovenous malformation may cause tinnitus. Generally, these kinds of vascular structures are seen in the cerebral cortex area and brain tissue. The flow directions of these veins are also significant in terms of tinnitus. Each vein pathology doesn't cause tinnitus. Direction of blood flow and the condition of pathology are important. Moreover, distortions of veins may cause vascular induced tinnitus by affecting turbulent blood flow. The high viscosity of blood is also responsible for tinnitus. High blood viscosity due to the density of blood constituents at those people living at high altitudes and having a disease like polycythemiavera may cause tinnitus. Again, deceleration of blood flow by pathologies inside brain causes ponding of blood and may result in tinnitus by creating pressure on the neural fields due to the increase of intracerebral pressure. The occlusion of microvascular structures in brain may cause tinnitus depending on the region. Nerve compression by arteries and microstructure arterioles of the labyrinth progressing in bone canal, called as inter acoustic canal, at the pons where nerves are inserted into brain is among the reasons of vascular tinnitus. The vein in this bony canal is normally contained within this area. Sometimes it is perceived to be a pathology in classical MRI imagings, in which no details are provided. It is called as vasculitisloop syndrome immediately. However, the important thing is to figure out how much this vein makes pression on nerves and to which extent it deteriorates the neural transmission activity. It is significant if deteriorating the activity. This relevance can only be revealed by FMRI imaging. It is challenging to obtain information with classical MRIs for all these vascular pathologies and other reasons. Detailed information can only be acquired by featured tests. Now it is possible to obtain the most realistic images and detect pathologies with recent FMRI technique. It should not be forgotten that many other vascular structural disorders may also cause tinnitus.

Treatment: Most of the tinnitus cases related to vascular structural disorders and/or blood flow disorders respond to treatment. In the treatment of vascular tinnitus, it might be possible to treat that tinnitus seen in the auditory system or in the brain and developed due to the influence of neural areas, or tinnitus can be taken under control. Very few of these pathologies are outside the therapeutic limits. No doubt that we carry out the proper evaluation of patient, determine the cause of tinnitus precisely by advanced tests and apply our treatments according to the findings acquired by examinations. It should certainly be considered that treatments should not be applied by patients themselves and hearsay medication recommendations should not be esteemed. We know very well that unconscious drug use without a precise diagnosis can produce very serious vital consequences. For this reason, we are often faced with the question of how to use drugs from people in social media. This is not a right method to obtain information. The right thing is to determine the exact problem with adequate examinations and apply appropriate treatment according to findings.