NONSPECIFIC VERTIGO WITH NORMAL OTONEUROLOGICAL EXAMINATION - THE ROLE OF VESTIBULAR LABORATORY TESTS

Vestibular laboratory tests are not generally necessary in the diagnos is of patients with a clear description of vertigo accompanied by posi tive otoneurological examination findings. The purpose of the study wa s to investigate the role of conventional vestibular laboratory tests in the diagnosis of patients complaining of nonspecific vertigo, despi te their having a documented normal otoneurological examination. The r esults of the standard electronystagmography (ENG) and sinusoidal harm onic acceleration (SHA) tests of 52 patients referred for ambulatory v estibular laboratory tests due to a nonspecific illusion of movement, bur with a normal otoneurological examination, were reviewed. Abnormal ities were found in the vestibular tests of 35 patients (67 per cent), 22 of whom (63 per cent) were finally diagnosed as having a unilatera l peripheral vestibular lesion, and 13 (37 per cent) benign positional vertigo. These results suggest that a high percentage of patients wit h nonspecific vertigo and a normal otoneurological examination probabl y suffer from peripheral vestibular dysfunction, which can be objectiv ely documented by the ENG and SHA tests.