title: Retinitis pigmentosa: evaluation of the vestibular system with cervical and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials and the video head impulse test.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) represents a group of inherited disorders in which abnormalities of the photoreceptors lead to progressive visual loss. Night blindness, peripheral visual field loss, and eventual total blindness represent typical visual damage of such disease. No study has previously evaluated the presence of a "latent" vestibular deficit in patients with RP.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective study with caloric test, cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (C-VEMPs), ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (O-VEMPs), and video head impulse test (v-HIT).
  
  
  METHODS
  Tertiary referral center.
  
  
  METHODS
  16 patients suffering from RP.
  
  
  METHODS
  Evaluation of vestibular dysfunction with caloric test, C-VEMPs, O-VEMPs, and the measurement of the vestibular-ocular reflex (VOR) using the v-HIT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only five patients with RP showed normal values in all the vestibular tests performed. Three patients had an evident deficit at the caloric test, whereas eight (50%) of them had a normal caloric test but a pathological response in at least one of the other vestibular tests performed. No patient of the study showed a bilateral otolith or ampullary dysfunction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our patients with RP unexpectedly showed pathological responses in at least one of the vestibular tests performed. Nowadays, in patients affected by RP, a vestibular diagnostic protocol must include VEMPs and v-HIT to confirm the vestibular damage and to identify selective damage of the vestibular nerve.
authors.affiliation: Organi di Senso Department, University "la Sapienza," Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Magliulo
authors.forename: Giannicola
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Iannella
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gagliardi
authors.forename: Rocco
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Plateroti
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Plateroti
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Iozzo
authors.forename: Enzo Maria
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Vingolo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D064087:Head Impulse Test; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010037:Otolithic Membrane / Q000503:physiopathology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012027:Reflex, Vestibulo-Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D012174:Retinitis Pigmentosa / Q000503:physiopathology*; D058585:Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D014725:Vestibular Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014722:Vestibule, Labyrinth / Q000503:physiopathology*