The neurologic aspects of vertigo: analysis of 400 cases

Of almost 8,000 patients referred for neurological consultation, 6.1 per cent had "dizziness" as a presenting complaint. Dizziness is a nonspecific complaint, used loosely to describe funny feelings in the head or lightheadedness by anxious or depressed patients; or it may mean vertigo-a hallucination of movement of self or surroundings in horizontal, rotatory or vertical direction. An analysis of 400 cases showed the complaint "dizziness" to be functional in about 25 per cent of patients. The cause in the remaining cases varied from epilepsy from cortical lesions, to lesion of the brain stem, such as tumors, vascular insufficiency, and multiple sclerosis, or to the peripheral neurone from Meniere's disease, and vestibular neuritis. Leading the patient out in a description of the kind of dizziness he feels may give clues that will help differentiate between true vertigo and functional disorder, particularly when considered against the information that is obtained in neurological examination.