Management of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo

In vertigo, people experience an illusion of movement of the environment about them, or of themselves with respect to the environment. Vertigo usually originates in the peripheral nervous system (e.g. due to a disorder of the inner ear) but can, rarely, have a CNS origin (e.g. an intracranial tumour or brainstem lesion). It is commonly due to a peripheral disorder known as 'benign paroxysmal positional vertigo' (BPPV). Here we discuss BPPV and the management of patients with the condition, including diagnostic and therapeutic manoeuvres.