title: Is head-shaking nystagmus a sign of vestibular dysfunction?
abstract: It has been proposed that head-shaking nystagmus is a reliable test or indicator of vestibular dysfunction. Using a series of 340 patients and 20 controls, this paper compares the vestibular test data to head-shake test data to answer some of the questions about this poorly understood response. Head-shaking nystagmus appears to reflect the underlying spontaneous nystagmus and its direction has no relationship to the side of the vestibular asymmetry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: S F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Laird
mesh_terms: D002150:Caloric Tests; D004584:Electronystagmography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007759:Labyrinth Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D009760:Nystagmus, Physiologic