Posterior fossa vestibular nerve section for the management of peripheral vertigo

Patients with vertigo resistant to conservative treatment require surgical management. Between March 1991 and August 1996, vestibular nerve sections w ere performed in 108 patients with peripheral vertigo not responding to con servative treatment. The diagnoses were classic Meniere's disease in 96 pat ients and recurrent vestibulopathy in 12 patients. Combined retrosigmoid re trolabyrinthine (n = 106) and retrolabyrinthine (n = 2) approaches were use d. Patients were grouped according to follow-ups of less than 2 years and m ore than 2 years. In the former group (n = 49), hearing preservation and ve rtigo control were achieved in 93.9% and 100%, respectively. In the latter group (n = 59) the rates were 89.8% and 96.6%, respectively. Overall compli cations were uncommon. Three patients had cerebrospinal fluid leakage and o ne had total hearing loss. According to our results, posterior fossa vestib ular nerve section was found to be an effective treatment for the managemen t of patients with intractable vertigo.