REAPPRAISAL OF THE MONOTHERMAL WARM CALORIC SCREENING-TEST

The usefulness of a monothermal warm caloric screening test (MWST) for predicting alternate binaural bithermal test abnormalities has been r eexamined. Previously, researchers have reported false-negative rates for the MWST ranging from 0% to over 35%. Alternate binaural bithermal test data from 504 consecutive patients were evaluated with MWST fail ure criteria of 24.5% and 29%, with and without the addition of failur e criteria from subtests of the electronystagmography examination. Sen sitivity of the MWST alone was high, and improved with additional fail ure criteria. The specificity levels were correspondingly high. Result s support the use of the MWST with adjunctive failure criteria when pa tients have otherwise normal electronystagmography findings.