Positional Nystagmus in Acute and Subacute Vestibular Neuritis

Lee, Do Joon; Jung, Jae Yun; Rhee, Chung Ku; Suh, Myung Whan

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
By understanding the typical pattern of nystagmus during diverse positional change, we might be able to diagnose the subacute vestibular neuritis (VN) more accurately. The aim of this study was to identify the typical pattern of positional nystagmus in compensated and uncompensated VN patients.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The videonystagmography of 182 patients who were diagnosed as VN were reviewed retrospectively. The patients were classified into two groups by the presence or absence of spontaneous nystagumus (SN). The amplitude of nystagmus evoked by head roll test (HRT) and body roll test (BRT) were compared between the lesion side (ipsilateral, i) and the healthy side (contralateral, c).
RESULTS
In the VN patients with SN, positional nystagmus was stronger on the iHRT and iBRT compared to the cHRT and cBRT, respectively. But in the VN patients without SN, this pattern of nystagmus was not evident. Although a stronger nystagmus was found in the iBRT compared to the cBRT, the mean amplitude of nystagmus was not significantly different. Also there was no difference in the nystagmus between the iHRT and cHRT.
CONCLUSION
The typical pattern of positional nystagmus which can be found in the VN with SN was not evident in VN without SN. Positional nystagmus may not be able to give us useful information on diagnosing subacute VN.