Diagnostic Value of Head-shaking Nystagmus in Patients with Unilateral Peripheral Vestibular Disorders

Comparison with Trapezoid Rotation Test

Abstract

Head-shaking nystagmus and trapezoid rotation tests were performed on the same day in patients with unilateral peripheral disorders, and the results of the two tests were compared.
An analysis of 84 data from 37 patients proved that the head-shaking nystagmus test gave almost the same results as the trapezoid rotation test.
However, head-shaking nystagmus must be tested carefully, because the angular acceleration induced by head-shaking far exceeds the physiologic threshold of the semicircular cannals, and cervical factors during head-shaking may influence the test results. Therefore, discrepancies between the two tests were often observed in this survey.