title: Minimum amount of calories needed to elicit the vestibulo-ocular reflex in normal human subjects.
abstract: Calorie as a unit of heat quantity is considered more appropriate than temperatures and seconds as in conventional caloric testing. In an attempt to determine the minimum amount of calories needed to elicit the vestibulo-ocular reflex, we modified free-flowing irrigation into a closed irrigation of the external meatus. Using this method, we studied 61 ears in 34 normal healthy subjects, revealing the threshold to be 310.26 +/- 151.19 calories. Concern about the excessive heat used in conventional stimuli, which is believed to be the cause of unwanted autonomic responses, has been answered by this finding. Conventional irrigation with water at 44 degrees C is about 5-fold stronger than that minimum. With the closed irrigation technique, the autonomic responses have been reduced relatively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Hasanuddin University, Faculty of Medicine, Ujung Pandang, Indonesia.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sedjawidada
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mangape
authors.forename: F G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Kuhuwael
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002150:Caloric Tests; D004431:Ear, External; D005260:Female; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012027:Reflex, Vestibulo-Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D013696:Temperature; D007507:Therapeutic Irrigation