Vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) in patients with acoustic neuromas.
OBJECTIVE
To study the utility of VEMP (vestibular-evoked myogenic potential) in the diagnosis of acoustic neuromas.


METHODS
Eighteen patients with unilateral acoustic neuromas were subjected to this study. Myogenic potential responding to loud click stimuli was recorded at ipsilateral sternocleidomastoid muscle. A normal range of VEMP was obtained from 20 controls. VEMP responses were compared with both, clinical symptoms and results of caloric tests.


RESULTS
Thirteen out of 18 patients showed decreased responses of VEMP at the affected side. VEMP responses seemed to have little relation with dysequilibrium, spontaneous nystagmus, canal paresis and pure-tone hearing.


CONCLUSIONS
VEMP is useful for detecting dysfunction of inferior vestibular nerve in patients with acoustic neuromas.
Takeichi
N
N
Department of Otolaryngology, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan. takeichi@med.hokudai.ac.jp
Sakamoto
T
T
Fukuda
S
S
Inuyama
Y
Y
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009464:Neuroma, Acoustic / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014724:Vestibular Function Tests