Res Vestib Sci.  2012 Dec;11(4):146-153.

Spontaneous Recovery of Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex Gain after Bilateral Complete Vestibular Loss Following Head Injury

• Park GY
• Chung EW
• Kim JS
• Chung WH

Abstract

Dizziness is a frequent complication of head injury and objective evidence of vestibular dysfunction in the dizzy patient following head injury has been reported in literatures. However, there is no report about bilateral spontaneous recovery of caloric response after complete loss of bilateral vestibular function following head injury. A 27-year-old male patient who presented with continuous dizziness and disequilibrium following head injury was diagnosed as diffuse axonal injury after brain magnetic resonance image and bilateral complete loss of vestibular function after caloric and rotary chair test. He showed gradual improvement of dizziness, vestibulo-ocular reflex gain and left caloric response at 2 months after vestibular exercise. After another 4 months, his caloric function was fully recovered, and dizziness disappeared at 16 months after the onset of dizziness. We present this case with reviews of previous literatures about dizziness following head injury and diffuse axonal injury.

Keyword

Dizziness; Diffuse axonal injury; Head injuries; Vestibule-ocular reflex; Caloric tests

MeSH Terms

Adult
Brain
Caloric Tests
Craniocerebral Trauma
Diffuse Axonal Injury
Dizziness
Head
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Male
Reflex, Vestibulo-Ocular