Clinical Study Of Vestibular Function In Patients With Benign Recurrent Vertigo

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the vestibular function in patients with benign recurrent vertigo and to investigate the clinical features of vestibular function.Methods:The experimental group consisted of 32 patients with benign recurrent vertigo and control group consisted of 30 randomly selected healthy volunteers. The inclusion criteria of the 32 cases in the experimental group:(1) to present with moderate or severe paroxysmal vertigo, but not with hearing loss;(2) duration of vertigo attack ranging from several hours to several days;(3) no unexplained abnormal hearing loss;(4) with no other vestibular disorder Standards to support the diagnosis of benign recurrent vertigo:having various degrees of nausea and vomiting associated with acute attack of vertigo; to present with episodes of nystagmus; and having certain inducing factors such as fatigue and mood changes. The experimental group included 22 females and 10 males(male: female = 1: 2.2), aged from 22 to 68 years, with a mean age of 51.0 years. The control group included 22 females and 8 males(male: female = 1: 2.75), with a mean age of 44.9 years. All patients with benign recurrent vertigo and healthy volunteers received caloric test, velocity step test and head-shaking test, which were used to evaluate the functions of the horizontal semicircular canals, and cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials(c VEMP) examination that was used to evaluate the functions of saccule and sacculocollic pathway. The results of the vestibular function tests were analyzed and compared between the experimental group and the control group.Results: Among 32 patients with benign recurrent vertigo, 22(68.75%) patients showed abnormal function of horizontal semicircular canal indicated at least by one of the tests, with the highest abnormal rate in the cold(water) test, followed by the speed ladder test and head-shaking test. Abnormal rate of horizontal semicircular canal function in the experimental group was significantly higher than that in control group(P <0.05). abnormal rate(21.9%) of c VEMP in the experimental group was higher than that(3.3%) in control group(P <0.05).Conclusion:Vestibular function tests, including the caloric test, head-shaking test and speed ladder test, are important to assess the vestibular function of the patient with benign recurrent vertigo...