Two cases of spinal cord extramedullary tumor with positional vertiginous sensation.
CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that neck imaging should be carried out for patients with persistent paroxysmal positional vertigo following diagnostic and/or therapeutic maneuvers.


OBJECTIVE
It is sometimes complicated to diagnose patients with vertigo that is transiently induced by head and neck positioning. Neck-vestibular diseases also induce vertiginous sensation with head and neck movement and need to be ruled out for the diagnosis of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV).


METHODS
Two elderly female patients visited our hospital with complaints of transient vertigo induced by Dix-Hallpike positioning, suggesting posterior canal BPPV. We carried out gadolinium-enhanced neck MRI in both these cases.


RESULTS
The positional nystagmus was not clearly observed or vertiginous sensation did not show any decay during repeated vestibular examination in either case. These cases were finally diagnosed as spinal cord intradural extramedullary tumor (C3-C4) by means of neck MRI.
Kitahara
Tadashi
T
Department of Otolaryngology, Osaka University, School of Medicine, Suita, Osaka, Japan. tkitahara@ent.med.osaka-u.ac.jp
Kondoh
Kazumasa
K
Kizawa
Kaoru
K
Horii
Arata
A
Kubo
Takeshi
T
D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D009442:Neurilemmoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013120:Spinal Cord Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014717:Vertigo / Q000209:etiology*
D003287:Contrast Media; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA