Abstract
We studied caloric responses of the unaffected side of patients with vestibular neuritis (VN). Six patients with VN, who underwent sequential caloric tests, were enrolled in this study. In all 6 subjects, the maximum slow phase eye velocity of caloric nystagmus on the unaffected side to ice water was smaller at the earlier stage after the vertigo attack (within one month after the attack) than that at the later stage. This phenomenon might be associated with the suppression of contralateral vestibular nuclei, which would be a part of vestibular compensation. We should take into consideration that caloric responses on the unaffected side could be altered according to the stage of the disease.
