Daniele Nuti

Benign paroxysmal vertigo of the horizontal canal.

Over a period of 4 years we observed 15 cases of benign positional vertigo (BPV) probably caused by deposition of otoliths in the horizontal semicircular canal. Rapid rolling onto one side in recumbent position provokes a paroxysmal, purely horizontal and geotropic nystagmus which nearly always spontaneously inverts direction. Rolling the patient onto the other side provokes a left intense geotropic nystagmus. BPV is more violent but resolves more rapidly than that of the better known posterior canal positional vertigo. Sometimes both syndromes are present together.

Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo of the Horizontal Canal: A Form of Canalolithiasis with Variable Clinical Features

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo of the horizontal semicircular canal (HC-BPPV) is a well-defined syndrome characterized by direction-changing horizontal positional nystagmus. We report the clinical features of 5 patients who illustrate the possible variables of the syndrome. In most cases, nystagmus is geotropic and more intense when the pathological ear is lowermost; less often the syndrome presents with apogeotropic nystagmus that is more intense when the affected ear is uppermost. The nystagmus pattern may vary in time in the same patient, changing from apogeotropic to geotropic even in observations at short intervals. In some patients, the features indicate involvement of more than one canal, either simultaneously or in succession. It is sustained that the clinical findings can be explained by movement of endolymph caused by displacement of otoconia in the semicircular canals and that variants are due to different positions of the otoconia within the canals.

The management of horizontal-canal paroxysmal positional vertigo.

Horizontal-canal paroxysmal positional vertigo (HC-PPV) is a vestibular syndrome due to canalolithiasis of the horizontal canal. The more common posterior-canal paroxysmal positional vertigo has a well defined and effective therapy, while there have been few reports on physical therapy for HC-PPV, and these have been tried in relatively few patients. We report the results of two different types of treatment of HC-PPV in 92 patients. A group of 21 untreated patients acted as a control group. One method, known as forced prolonged position (FPP), proposes liberating the affected canal by gravitation, and involves having the patient lie on the healthy side for many hours. The other method (the barbecue rotation) is a liberatory manoeuvre which proposes to expel the otoconia from the canal by rotating the patient 270 degrees around the longitudinal axis of the body in rapid steps of 90 degrees. FPP was successful in more than 70% of our patients; the barbecue rotation had slightly less successful but more immediate results. Both methods enable otoconial debris to migrate into the posterior canal. We suggest treating all patients with the two methods in succession.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo: Diagnostic criteria

This article presents operational diagnostic criteria for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), formulated by the Committee for Classification of Vestibular Disorders of the Bárány Society. The classification reflects current knowledge of clinical aspects and pathomechanisms of BPPV and includes both established and emerging syndromes of BPPV. It is anticipated that growing understanding of the disease will lead to further development of this classification.

Treatment of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo: No need for postmaneuver restrictions

The liberatory maneuver of Semont is an effective physical treatment for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. It works because it causes otoconia to move out the posterior canal. The effectiveness of the maneuver is thought to be indicated by the appearance of a liberatory nystagmus. After the maneuver, patients are usually instructed to keep their heads erect for several days and not to lie on the pathologic side for about a week. Here we investigated the prognostic value of liberatory nystagmus and whether restrictions are necessary after treatment. Fifty-six patients with posterior canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo underwent the Semont maneuver and were checked after 20 minutes, 24 hours, and 1 week. The patients were told that they could sleep or move as they pleased, without any particular precautions. We found that liberatory nystagmus had a high prognostic value and that it was not necessary for patients to avoid certain positions or movements after treatment.

Distinct Olfactory Cross-Modal Effects on the Human Motor System

Background Converging evidence indicates that action observation and action-related sounds activate cross-modally the human motor system. Since olfaction, the most ancestral sense, may have behavioural consequences on human activities, we causally investigated by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) whether food odour could additionally facilitate the human motor system during the observation of grasping objects with alimentary valence, and the degree of specificity of these effects. Methodology/Principal Findings In a repeated-measure block design, carried out on 24 healthy individuals participating to three different experiments, we show that sniffing alimentary odorants immediately increases the motor potentials evoked in hand muscles by TMS of the motor cortex. This effect was odorant-specific and was absent when subjects were presented with odorants including a potentially noxious trigeminal component. The smell-induced corticospinal facilitation of hand muscles during observation of grasping was an additive effect which superimposed to that induced by the mere observation of grasping actions for food or non-food objects. The odour-induced motor facilitation took place only in case of congruence between the sniffed odour and the observed grasped food, and specifically involved the muscle acting as prime mover for hand/fingers shaping in the observed action. Conclusions/Significance Complex olfactory cross-modal effects on the human corticospinal system are physiologically demonstrable. They are odorant-specific and, depending on the experimental context, muscle- and action-specific as well. This finding implies potential new diagnostic and rehabilitative applications.

Effectiveness of Careful Bedside Examination in Assessment, Diagnosis, and Prognosis of Vestibular Neuritis

OBJECTIVE To determine whether the use of 4 bedside tests (head-impulse, head-heave, head-shake, and vibration tests) can be as effective as the caloric test, a widely accepted standard, in the diagnosis and prediction of the time to recovery from vestibular neuritis. DESIGN Inception cohort (1-year follow-up), criterion standard study. SETTING Primary referral center. PATIENTS All patients had acute vertigo, and those having a diagnosis of vestibular neuritis were eligible for inclusion in the study. Sixty-eight patients (43 men and 25 women; mean age, 54.9 years) met this criterion, and 53 of them (77.9%) completed the study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Spontaneous head-shaking and vibration-induced nystagmus elicited with a battery-powered device were tested wearing Frenzel goggles. The head-impulse and head-heave tests were performed manually. Caloric irrigation was administered with hot, cold, and ice water. RESULTS At baseline, more than half of the patients exhibited positive signs with all 4 tests and all had caloric paralysis or paresis. Signs with the head-impulse and head-heave tests correlated highly (odds ratio, 24.9; P < .001), as did those with the head-shake and vibration tests (odds ratio, 22.8; P < .001). Patients with a positive sign with the head-impulse or vibration test were 70% less likely to recover than were those with a negative sign. Head-impulse (hazard ratio, 0.08; P = .002) and head-shake (hazard ratio, 0.23; P = .01) test results were associated with the outcome of the caloric test. CONCLUSION Careful bedside examination of patients with vestibular neuritis has both diagnostic value in the short term and prognostic value in the long term.

Vestibular neuritis: recurrence and incidence of secondary benign paroxysmal positional vertigo

Conclusions: Recurrence of vestibular neuritis (VN) is a rare event in long-term follow-up. The incidence of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) in VN patients represents a quite common outcome. To our knowledge, this study represents the only long-term longitudinal study on recurrence of VN and incidence of secondary BPPV in VN. Objectives: To study a large number of VN patients longitudinally to identify the recurrence rate of VN and incidence of BPPV, other peripheral vestibular disorders, sudden hearing loss or Bell’s palsy. Methods: This prospective cohort study assessed a VN patient-based clinic population. All patients received a complete bedside clinical examination and caloric irrigation. Results: Long-term (range 4–6 years, mean 4.9 years) longitudinal follow-up examination of 51 VN patients demonstrated a low recurrence rate (1/51 patients, 2.0%). With recurrence, VN affected the same ear after 6 months and caused less severe symptoms. BPPV appears to be more frequent (5/51 patients, 9.8%) in VN patients than in the general population, consistently affecting the posterior canal of the same ear. BPPV occurrence after VN predominantly affects VN patients who did not fully recover from the disease. Moreover, BPPV after VN appears to be more difficult to treat than idiopathic BPPV.

Long-Term Follow-up of Vestibular Neuritis

The long‐term outcome of vestibular neuritis was evaluated in 35 patients using 4 bedside tests (head impulse, head heave, head shake, vibration), the caloric test and two surveys that explored the degree of disability (Dizziness Handicap Inventory [DHI]) and the anxiety and depression levels (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale [HADS]). Sixty‐six percent of patients showed a positive bedside clinical test or calorics abnormalities. DHI scores were significantly higher in the patients group, while HADS scores were comparable between patients and controls. Disability from vestibular neuritis is primarily due to the vestibular disturbance itself, rather than purely psychological factors.

Epidemiological Data from 2270 PPV Patients

Paroxysmal positional vertigo (PPV) is the most common vestibular disorder observed in a dizziness unit. In 1921, Barany documented the first case. Since then many authors have defined its characteristics and pathogenetic mechanisms and suggested diagnostic and therapeutic manoeuvres. Here we outline the history of PPV and investigate its epidemiology. Two thousand two hundred and seventy PPV patients were examined over the period 1991 to 2000, at the ENT Department of Siena University. The data obtained were used to assess the incidence, prevalence, features and clinical course of the disorder.