Res Vestib Sci.  2015 Mar;14(1):15-20. 10.0000/rvs.2015.14.1.15.

Otolith Function Tests in Patients with Orthostatic Dizziness

• Ahn SH
• Jeon EJ
• Park YS
• Kim DH
• Nam IC

• KMID: 1787779
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.0000/rvs.2015.14.1.15

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Orthostatic dizziness (OD) is defined as when dizziness is provoked by standing up from a supine or sitting position. It is usually considered as being associated with orthostatic hypotension (OH). On the other hand, it is recently suggested that otolith organ dysfunction and impaired vestibulosympathetic reflex may account for development of OH and OD. Vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) and subjective visual vertical and horizontal tests (SVV/SVH) are tools for detecting otolith organ dysfunction. We assessed cervical VEMP (cVEMP) and SVV/SVH test results in the patients with OD to evaluate the relationship between OD and otolith organ function.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Three hundred-eighty-seven patients who visited dizziness clinic were enrolled in this study. Seventy-three patients presented with OD (i.e., group O), while 314 patients did not present OD (i.e., group N). Vestibular function tests including cVEMP and SVV/SVH were performed.
RESULTS
cVEMP showed abnormal response in 47.9% of group O and 60.2% of group N. Abnormal SVV was found in 35.6% of group O and 31.5% of group N. Abnormal SVH was highly found in both group O and group N (30.1%, 27.1%).
CONCLUSION
The values of SVV/SVH and cVEMP abnormality from both groups were not significantly different between the groups O and N. This finding suggests that otolithic function may not be related with OD.

Keyword

Orthostatic; Dizziness; Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials; Subjective visual vertical; Subjective visual horizontal

MeSH Terms

Dizziness*
Hand
Humans
Hypotension, Orthostatic
Otolithic Membrane*
Reflex
Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials
Vestibular Function Tests