Nystagmus recording by a patient using a portable electrocardiograph

Abstract

It is the desire of the neuro-otlogic clinician to record routinely the nystagmus of patients with vestibular disorders, but it is troublesome to have it done frequently. We tried to have patients record their own nystagmus themselves using a portable electrocardiograph. It is sixty-five millimeters wide, twentyeight millimeters thick, one hundred fifty millimeters long and three hundred grams in weight. It can be operated easily at any time and any place by laymen and often provides beneficial information. When we performed the caloric test on nine patients, we recorded the nystagmus with an ordinary electronystagm ograph and with this equipment simultaneously. It has been recognized that the records with a portable electrocardiograph bore close resembrance to the records obtained with an ordinary electronystagmograph. A twenty-six-year-old lady who was diagnosed as having vestibular neuronitis was shown to have prosperity and decay of the positional nystagmus during the course of recovery. Another record revealed that a sixty-one-year-old lady had positional nystagmus only upon rising in the morning. Moreover, this equipment is useful for conducting examinations in remote places, because it is portable. We think that daily recording of nystagmus will be helpful in evaluating the efficacy of drugs and recommending changes in the mode of living for some patients.