Alcohol-dependence drug also helps tinnitus

Acamprosate (Campral), a drug normally used to treat alcohol dependence, can also be used to treat tinnitus, according to a recent study.

Fifty patients with tinnitus were asked to rank their discomfort on a scale from one to 10. The patients, aged 35 to 82, were classified into two groups of 25 for a double blind study. The first group received 333 milligrams of acamprosate three times a day, while the second group was given equal amounts of a placebo. The patients were asked to classify their discomfort again at 30, 60 and 90 days after they began taking the medicine.

After 90 days, nearly 87 percent of the group taking acamprosate recorded a significant improvement in symptoms. Additionally, almost 48 percent of those patients with considerable improvement recorded better than a 50-percent progress rate. Three patients recorded having the tinnitus disappear.

SOURCE: The 109th Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO of the American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Foundation in Los Angeles, Sept. 25-28, 2005