A Study on the Effect of Cilostazol in Patients With Chronic Tinnitus

1. Overview of tinnitus Tinnitus is a noisy sound which is perceived without any external sound source. According to the survey of the US, 10-20% of adult have the symptom of tinnitus and 3-5% of tinnitus patients have severe discomfort of daily life. Severe tinnitus can result in psychiatric problems such as depression and anxiety disorders. Enhancement of environmental sound, hearing aids, sound generators, cognitive therapy, transcranial magnetic therapy, and drug therapy have been tried for treatment of tinnitus. Nitric oxide(NO) is a well-known neurotransmitter acting as a vasodilator through regulation of production of cyclic guanosine monophosphate(cGMP) and can be found in various sites of cochlea. It is reported that cGMP enhances activity of protein kinase A (PKA), a mediator of platelet aggregation inhibition and vasodilatation and results in increase of vascular flow. 2. Characteristics of the clinical research drug, cilostazol Cilostazol inhibits phosphodiesterase type 3 (PDE3) selectively and increases amount of cAMP by inhibition of degradation of cyclic adenosine monophosphate(cAMP). cAMP again by increasing the active form of PKA suppress the production of blood clots and increase blood flow by expanding blood vessels. Anti-platelet activity and vasodilatation effect of cilostazol have been used for improvement of diabetic peripheral vascular disorders and suppression of stroke recurrence. Previous studies reported that by increasing the activity of NO and PKA, the blood flow of stria vascularis and cochlear hair cells can be improved. These studies implies that cilostazol, which causes inhibition of PDE3 and increase of PKA, can have a potential effect on improvement of tinnitus by increase of blood flow to peripheral cochlear cells. Thus, we hypothesized that cilostazol, which has been widely used for enhancing peripheral blood flow, can bring improvement of tinnitus by causing better peripheral blood flow of cochlea. 3. The aim of the study We planned this study to validate the assumptions of the background. The aim of our study is whether administration of cilostazol can improve tinnitus in terms of subjective degree of symptoms in chronic tinnitus patients.