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Updated: Jul 13, 2026
Surgical Labyrinthectomy of the Rat to Study the Vestibular System
Published on: May 19, 2018
Labyrinthectomy versus vestibular neurectomy: long-term physiologic and clinical outcomes
D J Eisenman1, R Speers, S A Telian
1Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Division of Otology-Neurotology, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
Objective:
To determine whether long-term vestibular compensation (VC) and clinical outcomes differ after transmastoid labyrinthectomy (TML) versus retrolabyrinthine vestibular neurectomy (RVNS).
Study Design:
Prospective, observational study.
Setting:
Tertiary care, university hospital.
Patients:
Twenty-one subjects were studied several years after they were relieved of spontaneous episodic vertigo caused by peripheral vestibular disease by TML or RVNS.
Interventions:
All patients had undergone TML or RVNS more than 2.5 years before the study and returned for physiologic and functional studies of vestibular compensation.
Main Outcome Measures:
Completeness of physiologic VC, as assessed by electronystagmography and rotational chair testing; performance on computerized dynamic posturography; pure-tone and speech audiometry; self-assessment of balance and hearing function with validated survey instruments.
Results:
There were no differences in the incidence of physiologic VC or functional recovery between the TML and RVNS subjects. Although a majority of subjects in each group had evidence of incomplete vestibular compensation, there was no difference in self-assessment of balance or hearing handicap at long-term follow-up.
Conclusions:
Long-term clinical balance and hearing outcomes are equivalent when TML and RVNS successfully cure spontaneous, episodic vertigo. There is a high incidence of incomplete VC after both procedures, though this does not usually produce a significant balance handicap.
