title: Damping of monocular pendular nystagmus with vibration in a patient with multiple sclerosis.
abstract: Acquired pendular nystagmus (PN) occurs commonly in multiple sclerosis (MS) and results in a highly disabling oscillopsia that impairs vision. It usually consists of pseudo-sinusoidal oscillations at a single frequency (3-5 Hz) that often briefly stop for a few hundred milliseconds after saccades and blinks. The oscillations are thought to arise from instability in the gaze-holding networks ("neural integrator") in the brainstem and cerebellum.(1,2) Here we describe a patient with monocular PN in whom vibration on the skull from a handheld muscle massager strikingly diminished or stopped her nystagmus.
authors.affiliation: From The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD.
authors.forename: Shin C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Beh
authors.forename: Ali Saber
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Tehrani
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kheradmand
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Zee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009759:Nystagmus, Pathologic / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014732:Vibration / Q000627:therapeutic use*