Clinical experience with a short-acting caloric test

The prolonged labyrinthine stimulation produced by the conventional caloric irrigation is uncomfortable and fatiguing to patients and necessitates an undesirable waiting period between applications of the test. The present report describes the use of a short-acting caloric test, and an analysis of all available data on 100 consecutive patients evaluated with this procedure. Because the labyrinthine stimulus produced by the new method is short-acting and because the stimulus was applied at reduced intensity in patients who were more sensitive, the new procedure was well tolerated even when five or more irrigations were used. It was found convenient to repeat irrigations when results were uncertain, thereby ensuring a more reliable assessment of vestibular function.