UMass Chan Medical School Faculty Publications

Title

A perspective on recurrent vertigo

UMMS Affiliation

Department of Otolaryngology

Publication Date

2013-07-01

Document Type

Article

Subjects

Humans; *Meniere Disease; Recurrence; Vertigo; *Vestibular Neuronitis

Disciplines

Nervous System Diseases | Otolaryngology | Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases | Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms | Therapeutics

Abstract

The recurrent nature of the 3 most common vestibulopathies suggests a recurrent cause. Histopathology in temporal bones from patients with these syndromes - vestibular neuronitis (VN, n = 7), Meniere's disease (MD, n = 8) and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV, n = 5) - shows focal degeneration of vestibular nerve axons and degenerated nearby facial nerve meatal ganglion cells. Transmission electron microscopic confirmation of intracytoplasmic viral particles in surgically excised vestibular nerves from patients with VN and MD support a viral etiology in these vestibulopathies. Antiviral treatment of these syndromes in a series of 211 patients with a 3- to 8-year follow-up resulted in complete control of vertigo in VN (88%), MD (90%) and BPPV (60%).

Keywords

Vertigo, Viral etiology, Positional vertigo

DOI of Published Version

10.1159/000348710

Source

Gacek RR. A perspective on recurrent vertigo. ORL J Otorhinolaryngol Relat Spec. 2013;75(2):91-107. doi: 10.1159/000348710. Link to article on publisher's site

Related Resources

Link to Article in PubMed

Journal/Book/Conference Title

ORL; journal for oto-rhino-laryngology and its related specialties

PubMed ID

23796949

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