Ménière's disease

Mé·nière's disease

noun \mən-ˈye(ə)rz-, ˈmen-yərz-\

Definition of MÉNIÈRE'S DISEASE

: a disorder of the membranous labyrinth of the inner ear that is marked by recurrent attacks of dizziness, tinnitus, and hearing loss—called also Ménière's syndrome

Biographical Note for MéNIèRE'S DISEASE

Mé·nière \mā-nyer\ Prosper (1799–1862), French physician. Ménière specialized in otolaryngology. He published a treatise on diseases of the ear in 1853. In 1861 he published the first detailed description of the form of vertigo now known as Ménière's disease. While others had made peripheral studies of the disorder, he was the first to identify the semicircular canals of the ear as the site of the lesion. A truly complete description of the disease was published in 1874 by the famed neurologist Jean Martin Charcot (1825–1893). Not until 1928 was an operation for the disease developed by Walter Dandy (1886–1946).