title: Clinical use of skull tap vestibular evoked myogenic potentials for the diagnoses of the cerebellopontine angle tumor patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To document our experiences using a new skull tapping induced Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials (tap VEMPs) technique combined with standard Auditory Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials (AC VEMPs) for advanced clinical assessment of cerebellopontine angle tumor (CPAT) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three patients were selected in order to highlight observations shown in a larger patient population and to show the variability of the findings. Both tap VEMPs and AC VEMPs were acquired from the sternocleidomastoid muscle (SCM) with EMG-based biofeedback and monitoring.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The usefulness of VEMPs was demonstrated, indicating the presence of a tumor and contributing additional information as to the involved nerve bundles in two out of the three cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Due to the sensory organ dependency and related innervations differences, acquiring both AC VEMPs and tap VEMPs is likely to increase the probability of diagnosing CPATs and provide more information on the involved vestibular nerve bundles. This study demonstrates the feasibility of the possible expansion and combination of tap VEMPs and AC VEMPs techniques into a clinical diagnostic battery for advanced assessment of CPAT patients and its contribution as a guideline for the use of tap VEMPs in general.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, McArthur Annex, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA ; Intelligent Hearing Systems Inc., 6860 SW 81st Street, Miami, FL 33143, USA.
authors.forename: Erdem
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yavuz
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Medical University of Warsaw, Ulica Banacha 1a, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lachowska
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Medical University of Warsaw, Ulica Banacha 1a, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pierchała
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Medical University of Warsaw, Ulica Banacha 1a, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Morawski
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Medical University of Warsaw, Ulica Banacha 1a, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Kazimierz
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Niemczyk
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, McArthur Annex, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA ; Intelligent Hearing Systems Inc., 6860 SW 81st Street, Miami, FL 33143, USA.
authors.forename: Rafael E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Delgado
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009464:Neuroma, Acoustic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012886:Skull / Q000503:physiopathology*; D058585:Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials