[Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials in patients with recurrent benign paroxysmal positional vertigo]

Registration of ocular and cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (oVEMPs and cVEMPs) reflects the function of otolith receptors: sacculus and utriculus. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is a disease of the inner ear as a result of the utriculus disfunction and migration of otoliths into semicircular channels.

To study the function of otolith receptors (sacculus and utriculus) with using VEMPs registration in patients with first-time and recurrent posterior semicircular canal BPPV before and after repositional maneuvers.

Registration and comparison of the results of oVEMPs and cVEMPs were performed in 50 patients with first-time posterior semicircular canal idiopathic BPPV and 26 patients with recurrent posterior semicircular canal BPPV before and after repositional treatment.

Clinically significant asymmetry of the amplitude of oVEMPs before treatment was recorded in 14 (38%) of patients with first-time BPPV and in 15 (57.7%) of patients with recurrent BPPV; cVEMPs - in 6 (12%) of patients with first-time BPPV and in 6 (23.1%) of patients with recurrent BPPV. Successful repositional treatment did not affect the amplitude of cVEMPs in any of the groups of patients, but led to a significant increase in the amplitude of oVEMPs on the affected side in patients with first-time BPPV. In patients with recurrent BPPV, despite the absence of symptoms of otolithiasis, the asymmetry of the amplitude of oVEMPs persisted during remission (p<0.05), which can be considered as a prognostically unfavorable factor of disease recurrence.