title: Clinical usefulness of the rotatory, caloric, and vestibular evoked myogenic potential test in unilateral peripheral vestibular pathologies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic capacity of three different rotatory tests, and to investigate the clinical effectiveness of the caloric, rotatory, and vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) test.
  
  
  METHODS
  Several rotatory tests--sinusoidal harmonic acceleration test (SHAT), pseudorandom rotation test (PRRT), velocity step test (VST)--and a caloric and a VEMP test, were given to 77 patients (mean age 52 years) with a unilateral peripheral vestibular pathology, and 80 control subjects (mean age 48 years).
  
  
  RESULTS
  For the rotatory test, the highest diagnostic capacity was obtained with the 0.01 Hz SHAT frequency, followed by 0.1 and 0.05 Hz. A higher diagnostic accuracy was reached for the caloric and VEMP test. The caloric test demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity values, but the 0.01 Hz SHAT rotation appeared more sensitive, and the VEMP more specific, than the caloric test.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A selection of the 0.01, 0.05, and 0.1 Hz SHAT rotations is suggested as the most ideal rotatory test protocol, and a combination of rotatory, caloric, and VEMP testing will result in a more complete examination of our vestibular system.
authors.affiliation: ENT (Ear Nose Throat) Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ghent University, De Pintelaan 185, Ghent, Belgium. LeenK.Maes@Ugent.be
authors.forename: Leen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Maes
authors.forename: Bart M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Vinck
authors.forename: Floris
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wuyts
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: D'haenens
authors.forename: Annelies
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bockstael
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Keppler
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Philips
authors.forename: Freya
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Swinnen
authors.forename: Ingeborg
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dhooge
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002150:Caloric Tests; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012399:Rotation; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015837:Vestibular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D058585:Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials; D014724:Vestibular Function Tests; D014722:Vestibule, Labyrinth / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult