Vestibular neuritis: vertigo and the high-acceleration vestibulo-ocular reflex.
Patients after vestibular neuritis (VN) often report persistent dizziness and disequilibrium. We correlated persistent symptoms with sustained impairment of the high-acceleration horizontal vestibulo-ocular reflex as determined by quantitative searchcoil head-impulse testing (qHIT). In 47 patients, qHIT was recorded 0-60 months and symptoms assessed with the Yardley Vertigo Symptom Scale short form > or = 18 months after VN onset. No correlation between the magnitude of high-acceleration vestibular impairment and the severity of vertigo symptoms was observed. The lack of a symptom-qHIT correlation suggests that defective compensation at a more rostral level in the central nervous system may be responsible for protracted symptoms in VN patients.
Palla
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A
Neurology Department, Zurich University Hospital, Frauenklinikstrasse 26, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland.
Straumann
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D
Bronstein
A M
AM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004244:Dizziness / Q000503:physiopathology; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D019416:Head Movements; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012027:Reflex, Vestibulo-Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D014717:Vertigo / Q000503:physiopathology*; D020338:Vestibular Neuronitis / Q000503:physiopathology*