Tinnitus meeting in St. Peter-Ording.

The ubiquitous symptom of tinnitus, despite the great advances in diagnosis and methods of treatment in the past 20 years, continues to elude a perfect remedy. Those of us involved in the care of patients with tinnitus doggedly seek the final cure. It was for this reason that Marlene and I accepted an invitation to and participated in the "Tinnitus-Meeting der Nordsee Reha-Klinik II und des FSZ fur Brugger-Therapie," held February 23-24, 2001, in St. Peter-Ording, Germany. The experience was exceptionally interesting.

We had not been to the far north of Germany before. The site was a two-hour drive north of Hamburg, a few miles from Husum, the birthplace and boyhood home of Prof. Dr. Claus-F. Claussen, one of the organizers of the meeting. The region is flat, windy, richly agricultural, and covered with windmills producing electric power. The land is similar to that of The Netherlands, with much territory recovered from the sea. In nearby Kiel is the World War II German submarine base.

The facility at St. Peter-Ording, directed by Dr. med. Ralf Dehler and wife Frauke Dehler, both of whom are expertly trained in physical medicine, is a new, private rehabilitation hospital. In Germany, workers with health insurance who develop back strain, work-related repetitive-motion injuries, or other maladies--and yes, tinnitus--are referred to special facilities for therapy four weeks per year. Treatment involves diagnosis, massage, manipulation, heat, calefacient mud baths, and exercise.

The program on tinnitus, attended by 150 physicians and therapists, included the known methods of diagnosis and treatment. Of special interest were the papers on advances in physiologic imaging of the brain, to study the sites of activity in patients with tinnitus using PET, SPECT, and brain mapping. New to me were treatments by a director of the hospital, Dr. med. Eberhard Just, an orthopedic surgeon, who. described osteopathic types of therapy and a method of neurophysiologic reprogramming of the brain stem using evoked-response audiometry, described by Dr. K. Brill and Dr. T. Wesendahl. We will no doubt hear more about these treatments in the furture.

Until the perfect therapy for all kinds of tinnitus is found, we will continue our peregrinations throughout the world in search of the answer.

JACK L. PULEC, MD

Editor-in-Chief

EAR, NOSE & THROAT JOURNAL