Res Vestib Sci.  2024 Jun;23(2):53-60. 10.21790/rvs.2024.007.

Effect of early high-dose steroid treatment in patients with acute vestibular neuritis: a retrospective case-control study

• Lee JY
• Kang HS
• Kim SH
• Kim MB

• KMID: 2563696
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.21790/rvs.2024.007

Abstract

Objectives
This study is performed to evaluate the effect of early steroid treatment within 24 hours of onset in acute vestibular neuritis (AVN).
Methods
We performed a retrospective case-control study with 46 patients with AVN. Video head impulse test paradigm (HIMP) and suppression HIMP were performed, and dizziness handicap index (DHI) was determined at initial; all tests were repeated at 1 month. Patients were divided into two groups depending on whether they were treated with steroids (group S, n=21) or not (group n-S, n=25).
Results
There was no significant difference in age, sex, and side between the two groups. In HIMP, group S showed a significantly lower occurrence of overt corrective saccade (CS) (p=0.034) and lower peak velocity of overt CS (p=0.020) than group n-S at 1 month. In addition, the DHI score at 1 month was significantly lower in group S than in group n-S (p=0.040). In correlation analysis between subjective symptom and objective parameters, the DHI score showed a significant correlation with the occurrence of overt CS (p=0.028) and PR score (p=0.006) at 1 month.
Conclusions
Early steroid treatment in AVN would be helpful for relieving symptoms and the improvement of vestibular ocular reflex function in the recovery phase.

Keyword

Acute vestibular neuritis; Vestibular function; Steroid treatment; Video head impulse test