A Supplement to the Pathophysiology and Treatment of Lermoyez's Syndrome

Abstract

Lermoyez originally described this syndrome in 1919, referring to it as “the vertigo that makes one hear”. Portmann termed it “Lermoyez's syndrome” ten years later. The phenomenae in this syndrome are the same as in Meniere's disease, but they appear in reverse order. As far as we have reviewed the literature, there have been only 49 cases reported. Investigators disagree with respect to the causative factors of the sequence of events in Lermoyez's syndrome. Lermoyez himself referred to his syndrome as an angiospasm of the labyrinthine, but some others have attributed it to an abrupt increase in endolymphatic pressure.
In the present study we conduct e d epidemiological and neurotological studies of 46 cases with Lermoyez's symptoms. Of these 46 cases,30 showed the typical course of Lermoyez's syndrome. In 16 cases, the Lermoyez's symptoms appeared in a course typical of Mniere's disease or other diseases.
We also compared 30 patients with typical Lermoyez's syndrome 36 patients with typical Mniere's disease.
The etiology is also discussed in these cases. We believe that vasospasms is the main etiological factor in producing the sequence of events in Lermoyez's syndrome.