Case Control Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Oct 6, 2025; 13(28): 108180
Published online Oct 6, 2025. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i28.108180
Medial olivocochlear reflex dysfunction in multiple sclerosis: The influence of brainstem lesion localization and its clinical implications
Ibrahim Salih Gecer, Alper Tabaru, Beyhan Yilmaz, Elif Kaya, Nurhan Kaya Tutar, Bekircan Gumuslu, Mehmet Faruk Oktay
Ibrahim Salih Gecer, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Istanbul Bakirkoy Research and Training Hospital, Istanbul 34147, Türkiye
Alper Tabaru, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Van Research and Training Hospital, Van 65170, Türkiye
Beyhan Yilmaz, Bekircan Gumuslu, Mehmet Faruk Oktay, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Istanbul Bagcilar Research and Training Hospital, Istanbul 34200, Türkiye
Elif Kaya, Department of Audiology, Istanbul Bagcilar Research and Training Hospital, Istanbul 34200, Türkiye
Nurhan Kaya Tutar, Department of Neurology, Istanbul Bagcilar Research and Training Hospital, Istanbul 34200, Türkiye
Author contributions: Gecer IS and Yilmaz B conceived the ideas and experimental design of the study; Tutar NK, Kaya, and Gumuslu B performed the data collection; Oktay MF and Tabaru A performed the data analyses and interpretation; Tabaru A provided revisions to the scientific content of the manuscript; Tabaru A and Yilmaz B provided grammatical revisions to the manuscript; Oktay MF provided access to crucial research components; Yilmaz B was the advisor for the project.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of İstanbul Training and Research Hospital (Approval No. 2781, dated March 19, 2021). All procedures were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee, and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments.
Informed consent statement: All participants were informed about the purpose, procedures, risks, and benefits of the study prior to participation. Written informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in the study. Participation was voluntary, and participants were allowed to withdraw from the study at any time without any consequences. Confidentiality of all personal data was maintained throughout the research process.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement – checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement – checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. All data have been de-identified to ensure participant confidentiality and comply with ethical standards. Researchers requesting access will be required to outline the purpose of their use and agree to data use terms. Where applicable, supporting documentation and code used in the analysis can also be made available to facilitate reproducibility of the findings.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ibrahim Salih Gecer, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Istanbul Bakirkoy Research and Training Hospital, Dr. Tevfik Saglam Cad No: 11 Zuhuratbaba Mah Bakirkoy, Istanbul 34147, Türkiye. gecersalih@gmail.com
Received: April 9, 2025
Revised: May 26, 2025
Accepted: July 16, 2025
Published online: October 6, 2025
Processing time: 122 Days and 9.2 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: This study provides evidence that the efferent auditory pathway, assessed via the medial olivocochlear (MOC) reflex, is compromised in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), particularly in those with brainstem lesions. The findings suggest that demyelinating lesions in the brainstem, where the MOC system is anatomically localized, may impair auditory modulation. Temporal cortex involvement appears to have no significant effect. These results support the relevance of efferent auditory evaluation in understanding auditory dysfunctions associated with MS.