Clinical Usefulness of Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential in Unilateral Meniere's Disease

Lee, Jong Cheol; Yoon, Tae Hyun; Chung, Jong Woo; Ahn, Joong Ho; Kim, Jong Yang; Kim, Yoon Kyeong

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Because the saccule, next to the cochlea, is the second most frequent site of hydrops formation, we evaluated whether vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) responses can reflect the diagnosis and the stage of Meniere's disease.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
Retrospectively, we analyzed the results of VEMP in 40 patients (11 men and 29 women) with unilateral definite Meniere's disease. All subjects underwent VEMP testing using ipsilateral 500 Hz-tone burst sound with 90 dBnHL (rise/fall time=2 msec, plateau time=3 msec).
RESULTS
VEMP was present in 92.5% of Meniere's affected ear (37/40). The latency of p13 of affected ears in patients with Meniere's disease was significantly prolonged than that of normal ears in the control group (p=0.05). However, no relationship was found in latencies of p13, n23, and interpeak latency among groups classified by the stage of Meniere's disease. In the patients with Meniere's disease, the mean interaural amplitude difference (IAD) ratio was 23.9+/-16.9%. The IAD ratio of patients with Meniere's disease was larger than that of the control group, but it is statistically insignificant (p=0.133).
CONCLUSION
Prolonged p13 latency of VEMP was a pathognomic finding for Meniere's disease in this study.