Rotatory Test

Abstract

A rotatory test is less bothersome to subjects than bithermal caloric test. A rotatory stimulus of the semicircular canals is unrelated to the anatomical structure of external auditory meatus or temporal bone, making it possible to measure more exactly the relationship between stimulus and response.
We developed a new otolith function test by centric and eccentric pendular rotation. Using this method, we investigated the otolith function of 26 patients with peripheral vestibular disorders (7 with unilateral peripheral vestibular disorders,11 with Meniere's disease and 8 with vestibular Meniere's deseases) obtaining the follwing results. First, all patients with peripheral vestibular disorders who were investigated at least 1 month after the onset of the disease showed normal function. Second patients with Meniere's disease and vestibular Meniere's deseas had otolith dysfuntion within 1 month after the first or the most recent attack. There fore, we postulated the existence of a mechanism which compensated for the loss of the otolith-ocular reflex system in patients with unilateral poeripheral vestibular disorders.