Menière's disease is an inner ear disorder with recurrent attacks of vertigo, fluctuating sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus, and aural fullness. The underlying pathogenetic mechanisms are not known. The pathologic-anatomic correlate of the disease is endolymphatic hydrops, i.e. distension of the endolymphatic spaces as seen at post-mortem microscopic examination of the temporal bone. Prevalence-figures are in the range between 0.1% to 0.5% in the population. In Denmark, the estimated prevalence of Menière's disease is 3500. The disease commonly begins in the fourth or fifth decade of life, and the prevalence increases with age.~There are a great number of different treatment options for Menière's disease including diuretics, sodium-restriction, beta-histidine, and psycho-supportive means, most of which are not validated. The only validated treatment for the vertigo attacks is chemical labyrinthectomy by intra-tympanic injections of the ototoxic antibiotic gentamicin for which two double-blind, placebo-controlled trials found a significant effect. Treatment with gentamicin is ablative, i.e. the goal of the treatment is to destroy the vestibular sensors of the affected ear. This carries a risk of long-standing unsteadiness alongside with permanent hearing loss in the treated ear. Still, no treatments seem to protect from the hearing loss associated with Menière's disease.~The first to advocate the use of transmyringeal ventilation tubes for Menière's disease was Tumarkin in 1966. Tumarkin et al. suggested that negative middle-ear pressure, due to poor tubal function, would lead to a relative over-pressure in the inner ear and that this might be one of the mechanisms behind Menière's disease. In addition, Tumarkin et al. presented several cases where treatment with transmyringeal tubes resulted in relief from vertigo attacks. Hall and Brackmann performed tympanometry in patients with Menière's disease and showed that some, but not all, patients had negative middle-ear pressure and they questioned Tumarkin's suggestions.
The purpose of this trial is to assess the effects of transmyringeal ventilation tubes compared with sham-treatment which do not ventilate the middle ear, on the number of vertigo attacks lasting more than 20 minutes in participants with Menière's disease.