Hz. Tseng et Wy. Chao, HEAD SHAKING NYSTAGMUS - A SENSITIVE INDICATOR OF VESTIBULAR DYSFUNCTION, Clinical otolaryngology and allied sciences, 22(6), 1997, pp. 549-552
This study investigated 258 consecutive patients with the complaint of
vertigo undergoing vestibular function tests between August 1992 and
July 1994. The head-shaking nystagmus test was performed in a passive
fashion with the patient placed in a sitting position with the head an
teflexed at 30 degrees and oscillated +/-45 degrees horizontally for 3
0 cycles in 15 s; the post head-shaking nystagmus was recorded by elec
tronystagmography. Conventional bithermal caloric tests were conducted
with the normal limit of canal paresis set at 20%. The results show s
ignificant correlation between head-shaking nystagmus and canal paresi
s. Head-shaking nystagmus is more sensitive than canal paresis in pred
icting vestibular dysfunction. The sensitivity of head-shaking nystagm
us in detecting a canal paresis was 90%. Although the direction of hea
d-shaking nystagmus does not always accord with the side of peripheral
vestibular dysfunction, it is an indicator of vestibular dysfunction
and this test could be performed easily as a screening test in every o
toneurological investigation.