DMSO Dual-Route Therapy for Refractory Tinnitus in Long-COVID and Post-COVID-19 Vaccine Injury

What Was Tested

The trial (phase 2) is built around L-Carnitine for tinnitus.

All participants will receive two study treatments for 30 days: a DMSO-based ear canal liquid and a DMSO-based transdermal cream applied to the skin around the ears and upper neck.

It had 1 arm (groups): DMSO Dual-Route Therapy (experimental).

All participants receive compounded DMSO-based dual-route therapy consisting of a DMSO-based otic liquid applied to the external auditory canal every 4 days and a DMSO-based transdermal cream applied once daily to the mastoid and periauricular regions and upper posterior neck for 30 days.

The registry classes the interventions as drug.

More on the Plan

Subjective non-pulsatile tinnitus is a common and often debilitating symptom in patients with post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC, long-COVID) and post-COVID-19 vaccine injury.

Mechanisms are thought to include neuroinflammation, microvascular dysfunction, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial impairment within cochlear and central auditory pathways.

A substantial proportion of patients remain highly symptomatic despite standard therapies such as sound therapy, cognitive behavioral approaches, antidepressants, and corticosteroids.

Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is a tree-derived solvent with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, vasodilatory, and penetration-enhancing properties.

Who Took Part

20 planned participants were the target.

It was open to people of any sex aged from 18 years up to 70 years.

Healthy volunteers were not accepted; participants needed the condition being studied.

The full record lists 1 inclusion and 0 exclusion criteria.

How the Study Was Run

It was run as a single-group and open-label study.

Everyone knew when L-Carnitine was being given (open label), which is simpler to run but leaves more room for expectations to affect what is reported.

Everyone received the same intervention, so there was no separate comparison group inside the trial.

It started in 2026-05-15 with completion listed for 2026-07.

It ran at 1 site in United States.

Its stated primary purpose is treatment.

What Was Measured

It also tracked 9 secondary outcomes, for example Change in Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) score over time, Change in tinnitus loudness on visual analog scale (VAS), Change in tinnitus annoyance/distress on visual analog scale (VAS), Change in sleep interference due to tinnitus on visual analog scale (VAS), Change in concentration difficulty due to tinnitus on visual analog scale (VAS) and Patient Global Impression of Change (PGIC) in tinnitus symptoms.

What This Means in Plain Language

Put simply, this is a phase 2 trial of L-Carnitine in 20 people with tinnitus.

Its size is small, so on its own it can only give an early look.

Its status is enrolling by invitation; no results are posted to the registry yet, so nothing here describes outcomes.

More context: the L-Carnitine compound page, Tinnitus research.